Maker-In-Residence
In 2023, we launched our Maker-in-Residence Program for two high school students participating in our Education and Community Enrichment program. The Maker-in-Residence program aims to provide a more profound maker experience for students to engage with the makerspace, unlock and support their creative potential, build meaningful mentor relationships while learning tool proficiency, and experience vocational career exposure. This is a high-investment, high-impact pilot program was designed for participants to cultivate a growth mindset of improvement.
The Maker-in-Residence participants are awarded membership, a materials stipend, a class stipend for additional classes outside the partnership program, and one-on-one mentoring with Roundhouse experts.
Ivan Carrillo and Jazmin Juarez Flores are our Maker-in-Residence awardees for the 2023-24 academic year. Ivan spends most of his time in the Textiles Shop and Wood Shop, and has been inspired to create his own clothing line using the Cricut vinyl cutter. Jazmin creates in the Textiles Shop, learning pattern-making and custom-designing her own clothes.
Tahoe Expedition Academy Quilting Project
In the spring of 2023, Tahoe Expedition Academy (TEA) middle schoolers came to the Roundhouse to design and sew a group quilt for their school fundraiser auction. Each of the 15 students, from grades 6th - 8th, designed their own quilt square and spent the week sewing together. Our makerspace volunteer and expert quilter, Georgia Smith, assisted the students in piecing together the quilt and using her long-arm machine to stitch on the top quilted design.
Tahoe Expedition Academy is a coeducational Pre-K-12 school located on 42-acres in Truckee, California, minutes away from beautiful Lake Tahoe. TEA is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and was created ten years ago to change the face of education and harness the infinite power of the next generation of problem solvers.
Keep Truckee Green Monthly Mending & Repair Workshops
In 2023, in response to the overwhelming amount of clothing we saw needing repair at our Fix-It Clinics, we launched free Monthly Mending and Repair Workshops to teach our community how to repair clothing instead of throwing it away. Together with Keep Truckee Green, we offer classes in patching, visible mending, winter gear repair, darning, zipper replacement, and more to reduce textile waste while teaching new skills to the community.
Keep Truckee Green is the Town of Truckee’s sustainability, solid waste, and resiliency program. They coordinate the planning and implementation of our Town’s waste reduction and climate change actions. In partnership with our community, they foster culture to proactively address climate change and lead by example.
The Keep Truckee Green team is guided by an interdisciplinary Sustainability Committee, which includes staff from all Town divisions.
Aim High
Since 2019, Truckee Roundhouse has hosted Aim High middle school students in the makerspace to learn skills in Textiles, Laser, and Woodworking. In the first year, students built two lending libraries for Tahoe Truckee Reads to be placed with books in local apartment and mobile home complexes. Each summer, they come back to the makerspace build meaningful projects and connections to their community and creativity.
Aim High was founded on the belief that every student has the right to a quality education. Since 1986, they have helped thousands of middle schoolers from low-income neighborhoods ignite their love of learning while attending their transformative summer enrichment program. Participation in Aim High yields real results—98% of Aim High alumni graduate high school and go on to college.
Sierra High School
Sierra High School has partnered with the Roundhouse since 2018, and uses the makerspace as part of its Sources of Strength (SOS) program. The Source of Strength program is a wellness program that encourages enrichment activities as a way to establish trust, community, and emotional resilience for some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged youth in the Truckee Tahoe Unified School District. The students have had the chance to take classes in Wood, Metal, Ceramics, and Textiles over the years.
Sierra Continuation High School is a unique and talented blend of students, educators, support staff, and community members who, as role models and mentors, are vested in creating a high-quality, nurturing, and safe learning environment. Sierra High School is dedicated to providing our students with the education, guidance, and support necessary to succeed in all aspects of life. Multiple local entities contribute to the success of Sierra High, and we thank all of you for your generous donations of not only funding but your countless donation of hours to our students.
Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP)
Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) has partnered with the Truckee Roundhouse throughout the years on several projects to promote environmental stewardship by connecting students to their local community and environment.
Since 2018, SWEP has utilized the Truckee Roundhouse Textiles shop and experts to help design and create their ‘Trashion Fashion’ outfits. They display their outfits at their ‘Trashion Show’, a fashion show of artistic outfits made from trash, each with a commentary piece that is light-hearted, informative, and sends a message of positive action. The students advocate work to empower other students and the general public to take action towards conservation measures in the areas of energy efficiency, water conservation, composting, and recycling, through “Lead It, Live It” Trashion Shows.
Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) is a small, community-oriented non-profit organization based within the Tahoe Truckee Region. They started in 1994 as a small group of parents and teachers interested in providing comprehensive science & environmental education to local students that connect them to their neighborhood creeks and forests.
Truckee River School
In the fall of 2022, we welcomed a new community education program with Truckee River School. Truckee River School is part of TTUSD’s alternative education program. Their small school setting offers students a variety of opportunities to engage, and in some cases re-engage, in their education in a more individualized way.
Our partnership with Truckee River School allows students to not only build their skills and have fun, but to connect to the community and envision different possibilities for the future.
Our Education and Community Enrichment Program creates pathways of accessibility for members of our community who might otherwise lack access to the tools, mentors, and vocational exposure that programs at the Truckee Roundhouse provides.
Tahoe Ability Program (TAP)
In the fall of 2021, Truckee Roundhouse launched a new program in Textiles and Ceramics with Tahoe Ability Program (TAP, formerly operated as CHOICES). The goal of the program is to train the members and aides of TAP so they can use the space independently to work on their own projects during Roundhouse member hours. The partnership supports TAP's mission to create community inclusion, foster independence, and promote progress for people with developmental disabilities within their community.
The Roundhouse actively designs and funds programs like this to serve those who might otherwise lack access to these kinds of opportunities or face great personal challenges. We are inspired by this partnership with TAP and plan to build on this program’s success.
Tahoe Ability Program is designed to create community inclusion, foster independence and promote progress for people with developmental disabilities within their community. Tahoe Ability Program strives to encourage self-advancement and assistance in reaching individualized goals. They maximize the time spent within the local community to increase interactions between our participants and other community members to enhance networking and relationship building.
St. Clare’s Montessori Lake Tahoe
In the fall of 2024, the Truckee Roundhouse partnered for the second year with St. Clare’s to offer an 8-week program in woodworking. While our first year focused on building basic woodworking skills, the middle school group took on a much more ambitious project the second year: to design and build a concession stand to sell coffee and snacks to the St. Clare’s community.
The concession stand project is part of the school’s Microeconomy program, where students develop a product or service during the school year and determine if the venture is successful. We loved this partnership because the students learned practical woodworking skills while complementing their business studies.
Roundhouse Woodworking Instructor and retired contractor, Brent Ferrera, led the team of students through their project, simulating what it would be like to work on a real job site and talking to the students as if they were a construction team.
The students learned valuable skills in collaboration and teamwork. They needed to work together to complete the project, and by the end, they were working very well together.
When asked if St. Clare’s would recommend the Truckee Roundhouse program to others, Adolescent Program Instructor Peter Larson said, “Yes, it’s important to have hands-on experiences. Students learn with their hands, and the Roundhouse is one of the best places to do that.” We couldn’t agree more and look forward to future projects with St. Clare’s.
Saint Clare’s Montessori School was founded to provide a nurturing, Catholic education to the children of North Lake Tahoe, and is committed to sharing a love of Christ and His teachings and the joy of the Catholic faith with our students. The program provides the children with a rich learning environment which they are encouraged to move through freely.
Boy and Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe
The Boys and Girls Club of North Tahoe Middle School Maker Club came to the Roundhouse for 3 sessions of making in May of 2019. The group designed appliques that they cut on the laser and then ironed onto messenger bags they created in the Textiles shop, thus learning skills on the laser and sewing machines. They also designed, lasered, and painted a sign for their clubhouse.
The Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe’s mission is to inspire and enable all youth, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.
Boy Scout Troop 267
In October 2018, the Roundhouse hosted local Boy Scout Troop 267. The scouts learned to use the welder, CNC Plasma, and wood laser to restore the Lincoln Highway marker, which is on display at the Donner State Park Museum. The original marker was one of 2,437 erected across the country by Boy Scouts in 1928. It was an honor to partner with the Troop and Sierra State Parks Foundation.
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) provides the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, which helps young people be “Prepared. For Life.®” The Scouting organization is composed of more than 1 million youth members between the ages of 5 and 21 and more than 628,000 volunteers in local councils throughout the United States and its territories.
Boy Scout Troop 267 is a Truckee North Tahoe Troop that practices the "boy-led" philosophy – the Scouts take responsibility for planning meetings, activities, and outings. The Scouts are assisted by the Scoutmaster, Assistant Scoutmasters (trained adult leaders), Patrol Leaders, and Merit Badge Counselors, who all offer guidance and teach skills. The Troop Committee consists of parent volunteers who meet monthly to handle troop administration and support leaders in delivering quality programming.