Overall, I have realized that one of the cool things about being involved in a maker community is the amount of people and resources that I had access to. Getting more involved only gave me access to more people and more resources. This puts me in an incredibly privileged position. Not everyone has access to all of these resources, especially when they are underprivileged.
With where I am right now, I am able to bring the maker community to those who aren't able to engage in it. Thus, it would get more people involved in maker communities, and more people in the community would become makers themselves. Being able to teach students allows me to really make an impact in my community by providing these types of opportunities to my students.
Especially with low-income students, depending on their situation, they don't see themselves as makers. With my case, my parents were immigrant refugees who needed to learn how to be resourceful in order to survive. My dad would engage in maker-type projects amongst his family as the broader Vietnamese community. It gave him a sense of comradery and belonging. Likewise, I take after him in a similar way. I value creativity and self-expression, and being able to bring that out of my students as well as other people is extremely fulfilling to me. I love to inspire people to be more creative. It brings me joy as making has taught me to focus on the process and that every moment is an opportunity and an experience.
Another takeaway from engaging in maker communities throughout my maker journey was recognizing how much these spaces provide their communities with the tools that they need. Even going to spaces like the DREAM school and the Foundry at the Fine Arts library, spaces where it is catered to the needs of the community allow for it to flourish and then grow. Especially in an environment where makers are comfortable interacting with resources available at their use, makers start to learn from one another and their processes. The more comfortable a community space is, the more makers are willing to be open and take risks. When it comes to establishing a space where makers talk about their processes, my experience at the Houston Art League was probably the most profound. Honoring makers for their work and giving them the space to talk about their processes is important. Makers get to learn from each other in how they use their creativity to connect with the world. Thus, these kinds of maker spaces allow for makers to engage with available resources to interact with their community in a meaningful way.
