ocMaker Challenge 2016 Winners | STEM and 3D Printing

OC STEM Challenge finals overview image of the exhibition hall.

Jillian Johnson Sharp, the Orange County Department of Education, The CTE Partnership, together with colleagues, friends and supporters, such as Vital Link, did the honors of hosting the award ceremony of the OC STEM Challenge and announcing the ocMaker Challenge 2016 winners.

The ocMaker Challenge is a school 3D printer competition, an integrated STEM project that incorporates elements of art and design. Organized by the Orange County Department of Education and Career Technical Education of Orange County (“CTEoc”), students compete to design and manufacture a product that utilizes 3D-printed parts. All participants are required to include a presentation, demo video, and prototype of their product. All 170 projects, including the projects by the ocMaker Challenge 2016 winners, were 3D-printed on Airwolf 3D printers!

“Students must design and build (or significantly repurpose) a physical product, that will solve a problem, a need or a want.”

Two 3D printed forks by high school students for the OC STEM challenge, red and yellow made by students of La Quinta High School.
The Fork Five. 3D Printed forks made by the STEM challenge finalists from the La Quinta High School.
A picture of an exhibition board of the OC STEM challenge by La Quinta High School Students.
La Quinta High School’s exhibit demonstrating their innovative STEM challenge solution.
An image of a 3D print of a pressure sensing alarm clock one of the entries for the OC Stem Challenge.
A beautiful idea, a partially 3D printed pressure sensing alarm clock made by the students of Walker Junior High.

Awards for the ocMaker Challenge 2016 winners

Awards are cash prizes that are sponsored by Airwolf 3D, who has been with the ocMaker Challenge since the very beginning. Erick Wolf, founder of Airwolf 3D and instructor to the teachers, was there to present the big check prizes to the winners.

Image of Erick Wolf founder of 3D printing company Airwolf speaking to kids at a Stem Challenge event.
Erick Wolf, founder of Airwolf speaking to some of the OC STEM Challenge kids.
ocMaker Challenge 2016 Winners accepting their award
A winning team at the ocMaker Challenge accepting their award.

The projects were amazing! Our personal favorite was the “Fork 5” by students at La Quinta High School in the Garden Grove Unified School District. You can see their video here:

Another favorite was the “3D Printer Filament Storage Module” by students at El Modena High School in the Orange Unified School District. This nifty device has a counter to display how much filament has been used and how much is still left on a spool! This is a great product for day-to-day 3D printing enthusiasts to use:

To learn more about this STEM event, please be sure to check out the video:

How to host your own 3D Printer Maker Challenge

If you are interested in replicating a similar STEM experience for your school or other educational program, please contact Airwolf 3D to learn more about our training for teachers, quantity pricing, and sponsorship of cash prizes. Contact us at (949) 478-2933 or email us at info@airwolf3d.com. You also can click here to learn more about hosting your own school 3D printing competition.


3D Printers for schools

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