STE(A)M and Maker Education in the Capital City of the American South
By Jessica Johnson, MakerUSA Program Manager
Jessica Johnson (left), with MakerUSA Team members, Stephanie Santoso (middle) and Melissa Carey (right).
About the MakerUSA Model
MakerUSA is a national organization dedicated to empowering communities through Maker Education. It trains and places Program Managers (PMs) at partner Innovation Sites. These PMs are MakerUSA employees on 12-18-month, renewable contracts designed to foster multi-year retention and build long-term career pathways. While their respective Innovation Sites manage the PMs, MakerUSA provides ongoing training, professional development, and strategic support.
What makes this model unique is its flexibility. Program Managers come from diverse backgrounds, including recent graduates, mid-career professionals, and career changers. Each role is tailored to the needs of the Innovation Site and its surrounding community. In my case, I served as the Outreach & Advocacy Manager for STE(A)M Truck, a mobile makerspace in Atlanta, Georgia. MakerUSA’s approach combines hands-on impact at the local level with robust national support, creating a network of professionals and subject matter experts (SMEs) who collaborate and learn from one another.
Introduction
On January 22, 2024, I started my journey with the STE(A)M Truck team, a Monday filled with nerves and excitement. My first day began with breakfast alongside STE(A)M Truck's Executive Director, Dr. Marsha Francis (fondly called Dr. M). We met at a cozy bakery near their long-time location on Laredo Drive in Decatur, Georgia. Inside the bakery, Dr. M greeted me warmly, over breakfast, we shared stories. I talked about my background and my hopes for this new role, while Dr. M gave me a glimpse into the incredible work STE(A)M Truck had accomplished over the past decade. Afterward, we headed to their Laredo facility, which the team was preparing to leave after almost 10 years. Walking through the space, Dr. M shared its rich history, and I began to understand just how deeply STE(A)M Truck was rooted in its mission to empower the community through hands-on education.
Later that day, I joined my first leadership team meeting, where I met the amazing individuals driving the organization's strategic initiatives. From there, I hit the ground running, visiting a local middle school to see one of STE(A)M Truck’s programs in action. I felt energized and ready to help amplify STE(A)M Truck’s mission and expand its impact in the Metro Atlanta community.
On my second day, I connected with the MakerUSA team, Steph and Colin – founders of MakerUSA, and Taylor and Melissa – PMs from Colorado and Tennessee, respectively. Here I learned from the program managers about their incredible work from across the country. Later that day with Steph, we mapped out my first 90 days, but little did I know that the scope of my role would grow far beyond those initial plans. What started as a structured onboarding evolved into an opportunity to stretch my skills and showcase my creativity in ways I never expected. It wasn’t always easy, but it was transformative for me, for STE(A)M Truck, and for MakerUSA.
STE(A)M Truck
When I started this role, I expected to flex my skills in collateral development designing reports, one-pagers, and insights. But, in true Maker fashion, plans changed, new opportunities arose, and I learned to adapt. At STE(A)M Truck, there was a gap in social media and communications leadership. In typical Jessica spirit, I thought, "Well, I’ve done this before, so I can help." Before I knew it, I was leading STE(A)M Truck’s social media efforts and transforming its messaging and community engagement. This wasn’t without its challenges. I had to quickly understand the audience’s needs, find ways to make our work more engaging, and expand our reach. It was a learning curve, but it allowed me to sharpen my skills in creating graphics, marketing materials, and messaging that resonated. At first, I felt immense pressure to get everything perfect on the first try. Over time, I learned to embrace the iterative process: draft, collaborate, refine. As a result, I became known for “turning out designs in a day,” ready to meet any immediate need.
This role also allowed me to jump headfirst into programming with the STE(A)M Truck team. I visited schools, worked directly with students and educators, and finally got to experience the deeper, hands-on impact I’d longed for in my previous roles. The joy of seeing students light up during a hands-on project or hearing an educator share how a program enriched their classroom made every effort worthwhile.
Over the past year, I’ve been inspired to get hands-on with tools and maker equipment at the STE(A)M Truck site. Although before this experience, I mainly dabbled in textiles and vinyl work, I explored everything I could, whether it was the laser cutter, 3D printer, or woodworking tools. The laser cutter, in particular, became my favorite. Initially intimidating, it soon became second nature, as I practiced, taught my team proper usage, and even developed protocols. These tools sparked my creativity in ways I hadn’t anticipated, leading me to create personalized keychains, crochet spools, and other tokens of appreciation for the community. I even embraced Adobe Illustrator and Inkscape, using these tools to bring my designs to life. Now, I’m so hooked that I’m planning to invest in a laser cutter and 3D printer to expand my at-home Maker space.
Although embedded in the organization, and there on a part-time basis, the STE(A)M Truck team truly embraced me as one of their own. They supported my travel to conferences, allowed me to create STE(A)M Truck merch for our community, and of course let me participate in any engagement that I expressed interest in. I never felt like an outsider and always felt as though my ideas and suggestions were well-received. I was even allowed to develop a community workshop series, Craft & Chill. This once-a-month engagement invites members of the community into STE(A)M Truck Headquarters (within a community coworking space, Pittsburgh Yards), and promotes fellowship, skill building, and community. Each month there is a different theme ranging from crochet, candle-making, painting, embroidery, and more!
Jessica and members of the STE(A)M Truck Team at their first 'Educator Empowerment Summit' in 2024.
A participant with STE(A)M Truck Team Members at the first "Craft & Chill" workshop, a workshop series established by Jessica.
Jessica and STE(A)M Truck team members, Nicholas, and Jasmine at the 2024 Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network Conference in Columbus, Georgia.
Jessica at STE(A)M Truck Headquarters, engraving leather using the laser cutter.
MakerUSA
On the MakerUSA side, over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of immersing myself in dynamic Maker Education conversations, connecting with leaders from local Atlanta makerspaces as well as national networks, and diving deeply into my landscape assessment. MakerUSA’s innovative learning network model, paired with its professional development pathways for program managers, provided an abundance of meaningful learning opportunities. Through monthly and quarterly meetings, ranging from collaborative sessions with subject matter experts nationwide to intimate, topic-focused discussions for MakerUSA program managers, I was able to build invaluable relationships with people and organizations that directly bolstered my work with the STE(A)M Truck team. Their thoughtful onboarding process, complete with a curated library of books and resources, ensured I felt prepared and empowered to dive into the world of making without feeling overwhelmed.
A cornerstone of my time with MakerUSA was completing my landscape assessment, Maker Education in the Capital City of the American South. This key deliverable, explored the challenges and opportunities of making in Atlanta. It provided a comprehensive overview of the current state of making in the region, including the number of makerspaces, the types of making they offer, and the demographics of the communities they serve. The process of creating this assessment also allowed me to craft actionable recommendations for nontraditional makerspaces, an area especially meaningful to me given that STE(A)M Truck, as a mobile makerspace, breaks the traditional mold. This work deepened my understanding of how diverse makerspaces can empower communities in unique and impactful ways and reinforced the importance of thinking outside the box to meet community needs.
Collaboration and community-building were at the heart of MakerUSA’s approach. Through professional development opportunities, I had the incredible opportunity to visit fellow PM, Melissa in Knoxville, Tennessee, to experience the ‘Maker City’ firsthand, gaining inspiration and learning from a community of trailblazing makers. Later that fall, Melissa, Steph, and I traveled to Minnesota to present our work at the NACCE Conference. Sharing our findings and our regional work with a wider audience and also propose to the national network the upcoming Maker Toolkit, aimed to guide maker culture on a national landscape. This visit was a highlight of the year, sparking valuable conversations about how we can expand access to making across the Southeast and beyond.
Melissa, Jessica, and Steph in Minnesota for the 2024 National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship Conference.
Jessica, Stephanie, and Dr. Marsha Francis in Atlanta.
Thank You
This experience has reshaped how I approach challenges and failure. As someone who grew up a perfectionist, I once saw failure as a reason to give up. However, this role taught me to embrace failure as part of the process. I’ve learned to push past setbacks, trust in the journey, and value progress over perfection. In Maker education, it’s not about achieving a flawless result, it’s about the discovery, iteration, and growth along the way. That mindset has not only influenced my professional work but also how I approach life. The process is always more important than the destination, and I’m deeply grateful for this role for teaching me to trust it.
