The Elder Grove Outlaw Tech Team is a club with 30 students (and growing) in 6th-8th grades. The students learn how to fix Chromebooks, laptops, microscopes, and other electronic items the school uses. They setup the AV equipment for concerts and assemblies, and they also assist teachers with their computer issues. The club partners with the local e-waste collection facility to tear down equipment for them. After things are broken down into the individual components (i.e. plastic, metallic, non-metallic, wires, etc) the students take the time to learn how things work (i.e. speakers, computers, hard drives, etc)  They are learning how the e-waste situation has become a problem in the world and how their hard work has an impact.  In the process of participating they learn work ethic, how to problem solve, and how to conduct themselves in a business situation, along with all of the skill sets in how to repair equipment.


I am the District Technology Director that started the club 3 years ago.  Every year I ask the students what they would like to learn. Every year they have said  that they want to learn soldering and 3D printing.   Unfortunately, I have not had the budget, nor the space, to make this a reality. This year, with our new middle school campus, I now have a room for Tech Team to work in. Unfortunately, I still do not have the funds to bring soldering or 3D printing to them. The students want to manufacture parts for some of the repairs they are learning how to do.  They would like to learn how to solder to fix some of the things that are broken at school, and things that break in their homes.

I have partnered with the local university to teach the students soldering and 3D printing. We just need the equipment to get this part of the program off the ground.


To make the student's dreams a reality we would like to purchase the following equipment for the Tech Team:

10 Digital Soldering Stations- approx $110/each x10 = $1100

Soldering items - flux, solder, etc Approx $10/station x10 = $100

Soldering Badges - Approx $10/each x 30 members = $300
The badges would be something they could wear on their vest to show other students they have a new skill.

MakerBot Method Carbon Fiber Edition - Approx cost $4000
This includes some filament, a basic warranty, and 2 teacher certifications
The carbon fiber edition allows us to print parts for some of the repairs we want to complete that will need to be of a higher quality than a standard 3D print

MakerBot Sketch - Approx cost $1200
This will allow the students to prototype their parts and designs before we print them out on the MakerBot Method. This will save us on filament in the long run and allow the students an opportunity to practice their new skill set

We are hoping to have these things in place before April 2021 so we can plan to have the university teach the students April -  May 2021.

The students are eager to learn more about the fascinating world of technology. We would greatly appreciate any and all help to take the Elder Grove Outlaw Tech Team to a whole new level!


Thanks for helping us honor all of the team member's hard work over the past three years!!!