Milford students in the Future Business Leaders of America and the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America organizations banded together to create ‘Family Makerspace Night.’
The event on Dec. 5 promoted family fun and togetherness.
FCCLA sponsor Mallory Gregory and FBLA sponsor Shelly Mowinkel oversaw the creation of the event, which garnered more than 50 attendees. Gregory said the students tried to make stations that would suit all different age ranges, skills and interests.
Stations included LEGO building, 3-D snowflake creation, cookie decorating, snack making, wreath crafting, snow globe building and ornament decorating. Main Street Market showed attendees how to make charcuterie snacks and Tori Wergin Photography captured candid family moments.
“One of my FCS students brought her whole family, and there was I think eight of them there, most of them adults. They were having a blast, even at some of the craftier stations that were geared toward younger kids,” Gregory said. “It made me smile.”
FCCLA and FBLA students will be able to present this project for community service competitions at the Students Taking Action with Recognition competition for FCCLA and the FBLA State Conference.
For the project, students were to assess the needs in the community, then lay out an in-depth community service project to address one of those needs and serve local families and students. The students found that many people, both in and out of Milford, experience a lack of adequate family time and a need to unplug from technology.
“Through their research, they thought this type of evening would be a wonderful evening where families would come and go and just spend time together off of their devices and just spread some joy through different stations,” Gregory said.
The goal behind the project hit home for a lot of the students involved because many of them participate in a breadth of groups and activities and may not get much family time, according to Gregory. She said, additionally, high levels of screen time may have a negative impact on relationships.
Last summer, Gregory and Mowinkel each applied for Youth Health Equity Grants for their respective organizations and, after securing some money through the grants, used part of those funds to support Family Makerspace Night.
Part of the Youth Health Equity project is encouraging students to do research, which was instrumental in the creation of their goals for the event.
Students looked at online sources as part of their research and analyzed demographics in MIlford. Toward the beginning of next year, they plan to send out a survey to Milford Public Schools families regarding community needs.
Gregory said the collaboration between FCCLA and FBLA facilitated a larger and better impact on the community. Taking Family Consumer Science and business students into account, about 75 to 100 students across Milford junior and senior high had a hand in planning the event.
“Getting to see the purpose that comes from those students and the joy that they had getting to see everything come to fruition that night, that was pretty special,” she said.
Eighth grader Jessica Stauffer said she loved working alongside fellow students who also want to have a positive impact on the community. Senior Addisyn Mowinkel said she enjoyed preparing for the event by shopping for crafty items and putting activity kits together.
She said it was amazing to see kids smile as a result of the work of her and her peers.
“There was so much excitement, and when one of the kids came up to me asking for help with a craft, it made me smile,” Mowinkel said. “Seeing all of the families there participating in the evening made the planning of the event all worthwhile.”
One of the most special parts of the night for Gregory was watching her husband and their two boys enjoy the night.
“My oldest son was there for the full two hours making things at every station,” she said. “He was adamant to go through everything. When he was on his last one, he was like ‘Mom, this is my last one. This night has been awesome!’ Just to see the joy on his face was pretty amazing.”
Although this was likely their biggest event of the year, the Milford FBLA and FCCLA plan to continue addressing community needs. This week, they have giving trees up to collect food and toiletries for the local food pantry, and they plan to play a role in an after-school program for sixth graders in February.
