CLINTON, Tenn. (WATE) — Students at Clinton High School now have a new, larger space to learn about robotics and engineering hands on, thanks to the nonprofit Heart of America and 3M.

On Wednesday, Anderson County Schools and Clinton High School partnered with Heart of America and 3M to unveil the new Future Makers Lab at Clinton High School. This refurbished space used to be an agricultural facility but has now been turned into a launchpad for the school’s expanding engineering, robotics, and Career and Technology Education (CTE) programming.

The lab includes a robotics learning space and engineering classroom, a dedicated maker space and technology, furniture and storage upgrades.

According to Anderson County Schools, the new, enhanced spaces will be supporting workforce development and hands-on learning. Clinton High School Engineering and Robotics Coach Jimmy Davis agrees.

“The primary use here is going to definitely be that our school is STEM certified and we can now provide hands-on education that will be applicable for real-world experiences,” Davis said. “Not only will they be able to learn from our robotic systems and learn from our curriculum, but they can also do project-based learning. They’ll have industry certifications and they’ll be able to hit the ground running right after high school into wonderful industry opportunities right here in Clinton, Tennessee.”

He added that no matter what career path students choose, the problem solving and skills they will learn inside the Future Makers Lab will be beneficial everywhere they go. 

Plus, those benefits can begin before students graduate. For Clinton High School senior Kayden Hembree, who is a fine arts major, his interest in engineering is “purely hobby.” However, in addition to being a place to expand a hobby, he said the robotics program has been a place to help plenty of students.

“It’s a place that we can all come to no matter what’s going on. We can leave everything at the door, and we have something to do. We can always just get our hands dirty and do something,” Hembree said. “Having these 3D printers here, having this huge new space is amazing. We’ve worked on pretty minimal budget and space size and things like that for a long time. And I think what we can do with a larger space is amazing.”