STEAM Punks: The Boise State CTA

The Project:

Before I ever arrived at Boise State, I knew I wanted to start my own student organization. I was always a bit disheartened that there were so many STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) clubs, but none that seemed focused on incorporating art into the mix, as well (STEAM). As luck would have it, my freshman year the campus library got a new 3D printer, and I volunteered to be one of the first trained to use it. This led to my heavy involvement in the development of the Albertson’s Library Makerlab where I met other people who also enjoyed using technology creatively across a multitude of disciplines. At my suggestion, we formed the Creative Technologies Association (CTA) to share our passion and our projects with others – on campus, and throughout the community.

My Role: Founding President (2014-2019)

Responsibilities Included:

• Showcasing club and individual projects at regular community events (some co-planned by the CTA) to groups of up to 5000 attendees
• Organizing an inaugural Creative Technologies Exhibition (“CTX”) featuring work by students and clubs across campus, planning weekly meetings for CTA members
• Assisting the Albertson’s Library Makerlab with various projects, trainings, and marketing opportunities.

My Work:

The CTA grew alongside the Makerlab – recruiting visitors to join the club, and advertising the lab through our projects and exhibits. Though our calendar filled up quickly with many smaller workshops, fairs, and fundraisers, our two biggest events were the Boise State Science and Engineering Festival (which I had attended since I was a child myself), and Innovation Day: a newer event put on as an invention competition for elementary students, where we were asked to showcase our coolest projects. The latter took place at JUMP (Jack’s Urban Meeting Place): a community center built by The J.R. Simplot Company. The CTA showcase was a highlight of the event – filling larger spaces every year with dozens of examples of technology being used for art, entertainment, and education. Between all of our community appearances, CTA projects were seen by almost 10,000 people a year!

It was one of the central goals of the CTA to make sure we included everyone in the fun. Because simply wandering through a series of pre-made displays was far from exciting, we designed interactivity into everything we did. It wasn’t enough to show off our projects, we wanted to teach guests how they worked, and how they could be built by anyone. STEAM became our theme. Whenever we found ourselves at a typical STEM event, creativity and art became our sales pitch. I wanted to make sure the kids who didn’t quite feel like they fit into a traditional technical field knew there were still endless creative opportunities available to them.

Eventually, we decided STEAM needed its own event, and who better to put one on than us! The Creative Technologies Exhibition was born. In addition to serving as a public expo, CTX was also a social gathering of sorts. We knew we wouldn’t be able to draw the kinds of crowds we were used to at other community events. However, because we were having it at our home base on campus (the Makerlab), we invited as many other similar student groups as we could – turning it into a networking opportunity for all of us!

I was president of the CTA for all five of my undergraduate years. As with anything built from nothing, it was sad to leave it behind. Nevertheless, some of my favorite memories were made with our group in the Makerlab (fitting, I suppose). CTA has already made a big mark on the STEM community in Boise, and I know it’s full STEAM ahead from here!