“I’m teaching special education students and (reluctant learners), too. These are grades 9-12 kids that aren’t doing well in regular school – they’re more challenging to teach and motivate. So I started them with Makers Empire because I wanted to make STEM fun and engaging and a couple of kids were very resistant at first. One of my students was like, ‘this isn’t really going to apply to me. I want to do my own jewellery business.’ And I said, ‘3D print it.’ And she was like, ‘Oh! I can do that?’ And I said ‘Absolutely. You can make jewellery boxes, too.’ Then they were very interested. For kids that have special needs or are on ILPs (Individual Learning Plans), Makers Empire is perfect for them. For kids who have learning disabilities or who are cognitively delayed, who are several years behind, it works really well for those kids, too… 3D printing allows kids to be so creative and to think outside the box. They get into that Growth Mindset – this is what they have to do but how they get there is completely up to them. And the kids love that. I can’t tell you the number of pictures I have of kids with their hands in the air and they’re like ‘yes! I did this!’. These are kids that are struggling learners and they’re having such success with 3D printing.”