The Hillsdale Library hosted a Maker Faire on Saturday, April 26. The Library defines a Maker Faire as a showcase of invention, creativity, and craft. Sixteen entries were judged by the general public in the following categories: best reuse of materials, best thing that could be worn, best electric thing, best moving thing, best thing that made sound, and the all important “surprise us.” Prizes were funded by the Friends of the Hillsdale Library.
Jack Carlsen, 11, and his friends Johnny Mayo, Kyle Icovelli and Alex Yakir took the $250 Grand Prize for their creation of Hillsdale within Minecraft. Minecraft is a multiplayer sandbox game where participants build with 3D building blocks. The project started as a means by which Jack could create his own world on a separate computer server. He and his friends set up their own form of government to manage the workload and to settle disputes among players.
“When I was thinking about the Maker Faire, I noticed that some parents dislike Minecraft because they only think of it as a game. It is so much more! ” declares Jack. “It allows kids to collaborate and work together, so I thought that if I made something that they would connect to, I could show everyone that Minecraft really lets kids ideas fly.” The virtual Hillsdale was on full display on the big screen in the meeting room.
Nick Metz won the category “Best Reuse of Materials.” His Undersea World was also a crowd favorite. The fish were constructed from pizza tins and soda cans. The jellyfish were crafted out of clear plastic water bottles.
Oliver Somers, age 7, created the “Juicinator” with his grandfather. His clever device permits the easy pouring from a 2 liter bottle with the pull of a rope. He was awarded the “Surprise Us” category.
Abby Atkinson won the category of “Best Thing That Could Be Worn.”
Colby Van Dyken’s Bird Call won “Best Thing That Makes Sound.”
Yilan Xu won the “Best Electric Thing” category with his Angry Birds Robot set up using Legos and an NXT brick.
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