Redevelopment Commission grants $195,000 to GCSC for ‘Fab Lab’ at GHS

With Greencastle Middle School students already able to experience a variety state-of-the-art technology thanks the school’s Fab Lab, the experience will continue into high school thanks to a $195,000 grant from the Greencastle Redevelopment Commission.

Courtesy Greencastle Community Schools

Make it two “Fab Labs” for the Greencastle Community School Corporation.

Following up on the success of the digital fabrication laboratory implemented at Greencastle Middle School this school year through a $195,000 grant from the Greencastle Redevelopment Commission (RDC), GCSC officials requested an identical grant for the high school.

GCSC Superintendent Jeff Gibboney and technology integrator C.J. Shields appeared before the RDC Wednesday evening to make the request.

RDC member Gary Lemon asked about the success of the GMS project, which fosters valuable technical skills that can be expanded upon throughout students’ continued education and applied to jobs and careers in local businesses and industry in the Greencastle community.

During Year One at GMS, Shields said 82 of “120-ish” eighth-graders are taking part in the fabrication lab, while seventh-grade numbers are about the same.

Sixth-graders are not being included in the fab lab program, which is a stand-alone elective class not unlike band or choir. It is not possible to run every student through the program because of those taking band or choir, school officials said.

At the high school, the fabrication lab is likely to be “more of an open concept” when it begins with the fall semester 2022, Gibboney said, suggesting that French teacher Amy Berry might want to bring her students down to the classroom to utilize the one-button technology while simultaneously printing an Eiffel Tower on the 3-D printer.

“The goal is to give everyone a taste of it,” Gibboney said, later adding that “you have to get kids excited to come to school.”

For students who may not get that opportunity due to band or choir, summer camp will be staged.

“This is the future, right?” Lemon asked, urging that educators “make sure the students who need it are the ones who get involved.”

Gibboney said one goal it to build relationships with local industry, specifically mentioning Crown Industries. RDC members suggested that Ascena and Phoenix Closures might be good partners as well.

Lemon made the motion for approval of the $195,000 grant request, which was made unanimous by votes from GDC members Gwen Morris, Brian Cox and Erika Gilmore.

The grant is non-reimbursable as long as the funds, acquired by the city via tax-increment financing on industrial improvements in the area, are used consistent with the furtherance of the creation of the digital fabrication laboratory and pursuant to state and local laws.

It’s a relatively new concept. The state legislature in 2009 made it possible for RDCs to contract with educational institutions for “certain educational and worker training programs designed to prepare individuals to participate in the competitive and global economy.”

In other business, the Redevelopment Commission:

-- Responded favorably to a request from Mayor Bill Dory to have new appraisals done on the industrial and commercial property owned by the commission since the current appraisals are several years old. The mayor said a “reasonably serious inquiry” has been made on the 10-acre site that sits in front of the community center project along State Road 240.

-- Heard the mayor report that “you may see a rig out there shortly” at the community center site as soil borings are planned prior to the foundation being poured.

-- Learned that the INDOT project along U.S. 231 will go out for bid some time in May with bids due back to the state June 15. The project is expected to begin at Veterans Memorial Highway and work its way north on Bloomington Street in the first phase late this summer and then move to the portion from Frazier Street south, along Washington Street, to Bloomington Street.

-- Learned that drawings for the new Columbia Street parking lot north of the square are finishing up. Electrical drawings are also in progress with lighting at the 24-space parking lot expected to replicate that in the downtown.

-- Heard Mayor Dory report that interviews for the park director position are scheduled with three finalists. A fourth person was scheduled but withdrew his name.

GDC members Gilmore, Morris, Cox, and Lemon, were in attendance while Lottie Barcus was absent.