Twenty-five students from Margaret Brent Middle School in St. Mary’s County toured the College of Southern Maryland Velocity Center Makerspace and participated in hands-on STEM activities on October 3, 2025, as part of the nationwide Manufacturing Day initiative. The event introduced seventh- and eighth-graders to modern manufacturing techniques using laser cutters, vinyl printers and 3D pens, aiming to inspire interest in skilled trade careers amid Maryland’s growing need for 100,000 manufacturing workers.
The students divided into small groups for rotations through four stations, each demonstrating key manufacturing processes. At the additive manufacturing area, participants assembled custom “buddies”—three-dimensional characters—from pre-printed plastic arms, legs and torsos stored in labeled bins. Using 3D pens heated to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, they added details like hair, clothing and accessories, following safety protocols that required protective eyewear and supervised operation. One student described the experience: “It’s been a fun experience learning about engineering. I learned about building shapes on computers, using lasers to cut precisely, and how using heat is a big factor in engineering.”
A second station focused on subtractive manufacturing, where students received rectangular acrylic puzzle pieces pre-cut by a 100-watt Epilog Fusion Pro laser cutter to tolerances of 0.01 inches. Guided by Velocity Center staff, participants designed and assembled structures such as dog houses, castles and jewelry boxes without adhesives, emphasizing spatial reasoning and fit precision. “I learned you have to be creative and strategic trying to put pieces together. It did spark an interest in engineering,” one student said. “I learned there’s a lot more to manufacturing, and different kinds. I thought there was just one main production line. It made me think more about a career in engineering.”
Additional activities included vinyl printing on Cricut machines, where students created custom stickers using 651 adhesive vinyl cut at 45 degrees for clean edges, and laser engraving sessions producing personalized keychains from 1/8-inch birch plywood. Each 45-minute rotation incorporated Fusion 360 software tutorials, teaching basic CAD modeling for shapes like cylinders and polygons. The Makerspace, located at CSM’s Leonardtown campus in Building A, spans 4,000 square feet and houses $500,000 in equipment funded by National Science Foundation grants since opening in 2019.
Lesley Quattlebaum, executive director of the Velocity Center, emphasized the event’s purpose. “It’s so important to spark curiosity in young students and show them the possibilities that exist in STEM and manufacturing,” Quattlebaum said. “Experiences like Manufacturing Day open their eyes to career paths they may not have known about and helps them see what opportunities exist for them.” She added, “Engineering is all around us, from the clothes we wear to the technology in our hands. Manufacturing is where those ideas come to life. When students see how problem solving in manufacturing creates the products and solutions we use every day, they realize they can play a role in making a real, tangible difference in the world.”
Maryland’s manufacturing sector supports 5,243 businesses employing 102,300 workers as of 2024, per the Maryland Department of Commerce. The state ranks seventh nationally for manufacturing output at $38.7 billion annually, leading in aerospace with 1,200 firms and biotechnology employing 35,000. St. Mary’s County contributes through Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin facilities in Patuxent River Naval Air Station, producing drone components and radar systems valued at $2.1 billion yearly. Job growth projects 8 percent by 2030, requiring 15,000 skilled workers trained in CNC programming, robotics and additive manufacturing, per the Maryland Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
Manufacturing Day, coordinated nationally by The Manufacturing Institute since 2012, reaches 500,000 students across 2,000 events in 2025. Maryland hosted 85 programs, including CSM’s debut, focusing on middle schoolers when career awareness peaks at ages 12 to 14. The Velocity Center’s curriculum aligns with Next Generation Science Standards, covering engineering design practices like prototyping and iterative testing. Students documented projects via iPads, submitting digital portfolios to earn certificates from the National Council for Technological Literacy.
CSM’s Velocity Center serves 2,500 users annually, offering 150 workshops on topics from Arduino coding to silicone molding. High school dual enrollment allows juniors and seniors to earn three college credits for MANF-101 Introduction to Manufacturing at $150, half the out-of-state rate. The Makerspace operates weekdays 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with reservations via https://velocity.csm.edu/makerspace-reserve. Equipment access follows American National Standards Institute safety codes, mandating eight-hour training for independent use. Recent expansions added two Formlabs Form 3 printers, producing parts in nylon, resin and TPU at 25-micron resolution.
Middle school participation addresses Maryland’s STEM gap, where only 28 percent of eighth-graders score proficient in science, per 2024 NAEP results. St. Mary’s County Public Schools integrates such field trips into its Career and Technical Education pathway, serving 1,200 students across five middle schools. Margaret Brent, enrolling 650 at 17670 Croom Airport Road, reports 85 percent attendance for the event, with follow-up lessons on supply chain logistics using Legos to model assembly lines.
Career pathways post-event include CSM’s two-year associate degrees in Advanced Manufacturing and Mechatronics, with 95 percent job placement at $22 hourly starting wages. Local employers like BAE Systems in California recruit graduates for quality control roles paying $65,000 annually. Apprenticeships through the Southern Maryland Workforce Development Board match 200 students yearly to paid on-site training, combining 2,000 classroom hours with 4,000 work hours over four years.
Broader economic impact ties to Maryland’s $1.2 billion annual investment in workforce development via the HOPE Initiative, funding 10,000 scholarships for technical certificates. The Maryland Manufacturing Alliance, formed in 1995, coordinates 300 members for talent pipelines, projecting 22,000 openings by 2028 in automation and green manufacturing. CSM partners with 15 school districts, hosting 20 Manufacturing Days through 2030, targeting 5,000 students.
Student feedback drives expansion: 92 percent reported increased engineering interest in post-event surveys, with 68 percent naming 3D penning as favorite. Quattlebaum plans summer camps in June 2026 for 100 middle schoolers, featuring drone assembly and CNC milling. Margaret Brent teachers received professional development credits, enabling classroom replication using $5,000 in grant-funded kits.
For involvement, schools contact velocity@csm.edu. The center’s annual report details 1,200 project completions in 2024, including prosthetics for local veterans and prototypes for Naval Surface Warfare Center. This inaugural event positions CSM as a regional hub, bridging K-12 curiosity to industry-ready skills in Maryland’s innovation economy.
