Gizmo-CDA
Hedlund Building, NIC,
283 North Hubbard Street, Coeur d’Alene
Located on the campus of North Idaho College,
Gizmo-CDA is a non-profit makerspace with
an ever-growing list of tools and mentors who
offer unlimited creative opportunities. In 2014,
Barb and Marty Mueller, in partnership with the
University of Idaho, envisioned a place where
everyone, kindergarten to gray, could go to
creatively play. Gizmo-CDA is a place where art,
design, technology and tools are connected by
the hands and minds of the people, encouraging
a love of learning in an innovative, collaborative
and supportive environment. Offering experiential
project-based learning, the organization’s mission
is to empower through doing. In 2018, Gizmo
teamed up with North Idaho College, enabling
them to expand their space and resources to
provide for the growing needs of the community.
Gizmo-CDA offers challenges and growth through
the creative process in a safe and fun way. Since
Gizmo has been in existence, over 10,000 students
from the five northern Idaho counties and Spokane
have taken classes, visited on field trips, built
robots, learned to program, and pushed their
limits. Summed up by participants, this was left
on a whiteboard: “That was hard and that was fun;
that’s Gizmo!”
Creativity and innovation are contagious! Gizmo-
CDA incorporates a strong educational component,
believing in STEAM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, Art and Math), with art being an
important component. Offering a wide range of
classes from robotics to ceramics, and from laser
cutting to building drivable vehicles, Gizmo offers
ongoing classes and workshops, summer camps,
and each year a celebration of “gizmotion” in the
park. On July 13, 2019 the celebration will evolve
to be one of over 200 international Maker Faire
events — a gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters,
educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, artists
and students, in a family-friendly showcase of
invention, creativity, and resourcefulness.
For more information about classes,workshops
and membership, visit gizmo-cda.org.
March | April 2019
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