A 3D Gift Spawns Opportunities – and Smiles
3/3/17
High school students ecstatic? How often do you hear that? But such was the response of students at Benilde-St. Margaret’s School (BSM) after several alumni delivered an unusual gift in late February – a $10,000 3D printer.
BSM is a co-ed college prep school located outside of Minneapolis. One of its crown jewels is its STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program. Hundreds of students in the 1400-member student body take part in it. So a state-of-the-art 3D printer will be a tremendous asset to young people whose minds lean toward engineering, bio-medical or even artistic pursuits.
And from the faculty perspective, the technology will be an amazing tool for teaching students how to think, how to learn, and how to be curious, says Kirsten Hoogenakker, science teacher and department chair.
Private schools like BSM are constantly on the hunt for funds to support programs and capital campaigns. The money is integral to their longevity.
Students benefit from the cash gifts, of course. But cash gifts don’t offer engineering, bio-medical and art students the hands-on gratification that Stacker 3D’s gift affords.
Let me paint a picture, for I’ve grappled with the terminology. The new Stacker S2 3D printer is a 155-pound tool on wheels that can be used to create objects, in contrast to traditional printers that generate paper copies. Operated by software, the printer can produce an endless number of items. It can make replacement parts for machinery, including the 3D printer itself. It can build sprinkler heads, fly reels, pencil holders, cartoon characters and so much more.
And that’s the beauty of having one in a school. The 3-dimensional printer takes education beyond books. Students have an opportunity to get in the trenches, to be exposed to the nuts and bolts of the work they might want to pursue as a career.
Imagination has no limits. Acknowledging it sounds a little farfetched, Hoogenakker envisions using the printer to create body parts so students who are considering medical careers can work with materials made of the same density that surgeons cut into. Not farfetched to me. Isn’t it that kind of outside the box thinking that turns students into next-generation scientists and leaders?
The printer has appeal beyond the sciences. Hoogenakker says art students will be able to bring images that exist in their minds into three-dimensional creations like sculptures.
The students are buzzing about the gift, Hoogenakker says. They can print with a variety of different materials – and with more than one material at a time. BSM students already work collaboratively. The printer is a prime vehicle for combining ideas and bringing them to life with technology.
Three years ago Norston Fontaine started Stacker 3D with the goal of offering a printer that fell somewhere between the existing options: inexpensive hobby-grade printers that produced low-quality results and expensive, high-end commercial printers with quality output. Fontaine funded the company with a Kickstarter campaign that attracted the Benilde-St. Margaret’s alumni who became first investors then benefactors.
Since its inception Stacker has sold more than 150 hundred printers. It has a new model on the market now, the S2, and a new Kickstarter campaign to fund it.
Serendipity brought Russ Schumer and Fontaine together. Schumer’s company, Crown Extrusions, was in a crisis. Composite gears on a vital aluminum press had burned out. Told it would take two weeks to obtain replacement parts, Schumer did some sleuthing and discovered Stacker.
Fontaine offered an unexpected solution. Using the 3D printer he made replacement parts for the aluminum press and delivered them the next day. Crown Extrusions dodged a bullet and Stacker attracted not just Schumer – but his high school buddies – as investors.
Donating the printer to BSM was Mark Ryan’s idea. Together, he, Schumer, John Cich, Eric Turnquist, and Miriam Olson purchased the printer and made the gift. They were members of the BSM class of 1975 – the first co-ed class to graduate after two schools merged in 1974.
Though their careers have taken them in different directions – business, manufacturing, and law enforcement – the bond they forged in St. Louis Park so many years ago remains. And now they are sharing in a cutting-edge business and philanthropic venture.
Who knows where the gift might lead, what benefits might flow from it? Ryan says Stacker might get some great feedback from really smart kids who will be working with the product. As the business evolves, Stacker may be able to offer internships or summer jobs to the students. And Hoogenakker says BMS students will have a competitive edge when applying to colleges or for internships.
For the time being, the gift produced a lot of smiles on the part of both donors and recipients. Ryan says that when they dropped off the printer it was like watching the kids playing with a bunch of puppies. And who doesn’t love puppies?
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