The origins of the Adohi Creative Community came from an IT specialist named Eric who thought it would be a great idea to build a creative community in 2019. In honor of Eric, the robot mascot is also named E.R.I.C. The creative maker space is where students living on campus can use the available facilities and equipment from painting to exercising and dancing to sewing.   

Helana Alexander, sophomore majoring in communications and minoring in theatre and art history, worked as a lead creative community assistant. A new policy was recently added in which only students residing on campus have access to the creative maker space.  

“Starting this semester in January, it’s only for residents,” Alexander said. “It has to do with the funds that pay for the creative community, so those come from room and board funds rather than the general student tuition and student activities fees.”  

The maker space has all sorts of equipment for residents to use. The equipment includes soldering irons, 3D printers, sewing machines, crickets, and a newly added embroidery machine. There are studio areas for different activities like spray painting, studying, dancing, practicing and producing music, and taking pictures with a green screen.  

“We have quite a few regular people who come in and do their crafts and things like DIY sewing projects,” Alexander said. “We have a lot of bands that come in and use the recording studio. A lot of the dance teams come and use our dance area, and we have different RSOs on campus that have come and used our studios.”  

Alexander said she believed one of the biggest problems in marketing the maker space is the location since it is far from campus and down the hill. However, there is a lot of marketing on campus, especially for the workshops. Alexander said there are posters for the workshops, which help get the word out there.  

“We have a lot of regular people from Adohi and Pomfret,” Alexander said. “A lot of people on campus who live on the north side come down for our workshops and things with their friends so getting people from north campus to come down picks up with our workshops.”  

According to Alexander, there are about 10 different workshops. The hour-long workshops are free to everyone to come and explore. They have “everything from poker to baking.”  

“If you’re coming to Poker Pandemonium, you’ll learn how to play poker,” Alexander said. “We also have Perfect Prints, and I recently went to this the past week for fun and made a Valentine’s Day card print. You can learn how to carve and do ink prints.”  

Alexander said she thinks people attend the workshops because they are students leading students, so the workshops feel more approachable than classes.  

“It’s a really good time to spend your leisure time relaxing and meeting new people,” Alexander said. “You can also sign up to be a member of the creative community on HogSync.”  

  

When Alexander was a CCA last year, she led her workshop called Fan Art Frenzy. She would put on a movie and lead people to paint or sketch based off of it.   

“I remember in my workshop that I created a whole community of people that would come back every week and then they got to know each other and become friends afterwards,” Alexander said.  

Now that Alexander is a LCCA, she does not lead her workshop anymore. Instead, as a lead CCA, she runs the front desk, checks people in, does rounds of checking the doors, manages all the workshops, and trains students on different machines.   

“Anytime someone comes in, I give them a 15 minute training on the machines,” Alexander said. “They take a quiz on HogSync, and then they can come in and use that machine anytime. If they’re a first-time user of the machine, then it’s up to me to show them how to use it.”  

Alexander also manages events that RSOs and different campus organizations can have in the maker space by renting out areas like the seminar rooms and study rooms and helps plan the big events the maker space offers each semester.  

“Our upcoming event Midterm Madness is a relaxation event, so we’ll have yoga, smoothies, and things like that,” Alexander said.  

All LCCAs and CCAs know how to use all the machines and can train anyone at any time. They had a week of training to learn all the machines, learn how to troubleshoot things, and create their workshops.  

“If people want to apply to be a CCA, they have to think of a workshop,” Alexander said. “That’s one of the funnest parts of the job. You get to brainstorm what you want to do and play on your strengths and make whatever workshop you want that fits you the best.”  

Creative freedom is what the maker space wants to embody. Alexander said she feels that creative freedom is a person’s personal expression. When people are discovering themselves and growing into the people they want to be, Alexander said creative expression is a part of that because through art, they can learn who they want to be and express themselves.  

“In college, you get put into these boxes of classes where you have specific rules, regulations like assignments, projects, and things, but when you’re creative and you come into the creative community and want to do a project, that’s all up to you,” Alexander said. “You get to have the freedom of choosing how you want to do something that you want to do.”  

Alexander said the maker space is a community to her. She said it is a community of people that can come together and make them feel like they belong to something.  

“You can grow and express yourself in a way that’s more accessible because we have the tools to do so,” Alexander said. “You can try so many things and find what you’re really passionate about creatively. It’s a community of people who are just like-minded and wanting to create and express themselves.”  

The maker space has flexible hours. It is open on Monday to Thursday from eight o’clock to midnight, on Friday from eight o’clock in the morning to eight o’clock at night, and on Sunday from eleven o’clock to midnight.  

“If they are intimidated by coming to learn the machines, they shouldn’t be because we’re here to help, and we’re here to welcome everybody, who’s a resident, that comes down here and wants to learn,” Alexander said.