SOUTH HOLLAND, IL– South Suburban College, along with the South Metropolitan Higher Education Consortium, is proud to announce the Grand Opening of the SouthWorks MakerLab at South Suburban College. Please join us on Saturday, February 6th, from 12:00 noon – 2 p.m., Room 5160 at the Oak Forest Campus. All are welcome to take this opportunity to come and explore the possibilities.

MakerLabs provide local manufacturers with access to new tools that they may not have and talent that can help them solve problems they may not be able to surmount on their own. Tinkerers, innovators and artisans develop viable businesses around the products they are able to prototype and test in the MakerLab.

Some describe a MakerLab as the modern-day shop class, but it’s more than that. It is a space filled with modern and traditional tools that allow users to make just about anything. Tools are easily accessible even to middle schoolers, yet powerful enough to build industrial prototypes. In addition to the tools, MakerLabs support the collaborative ethos of the burgeoning Maker Movement. Our MakerLab currently houses two DaVinci XYZ 3D printers, a Stratasys Uprint SE Plus 3D printer, a Roland vinyl cutter, an electronics station and a Universal Laser Engraver. In addition we have a dedicated Electronics lab, CAD lab and Manufacturing lab on campus.

Students master STEM subjects through hands-on learning and building. Many “find” themselves as “makers,” continuing on to engineering and manufacturing careers. Others invent. All develop the critical thinking, problem-solving, and persistence that hands-on, learning-by-doing provides and leads to success in the real world.

The Oak Forest Campus is located at 16333 S. Kilbourn Avenue, Oak Forest, IL. For more information, please contact Anna Helwig at (708) 596-2000, ext. 5706, ahelwig@ssc.edu or Desmond Campbell at (708) 596-2000, ext. 3256, dcampbell@ssc.edu.