Message from the Vice President

Happy 243rd birthday United States! Regarding independence day, John Adams once said in a letter to his wife Abigail, “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews [shows], Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

While our history is far from perfect, it is a time to reflect on and celebrate the great experiment and risk that was our democracy – something radically different from the monarchies of Europe at the time. When I think about that, I realize that our combined ingenuity, creativity, boldness, open-mindedness, and adventurous spirit are the true American legacy.

That legacy is alive and well in our Nova Labs family – a community fueled by the desire to continually improve, share knowledge, and make amazing things!

Have a wonderful Independence Day and let’s celebrate together as John Adams predicted.

Yours,

Jim Girardi
Nova Labs Vice President

PS: “Illuminations” does not include flamethrowers

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Board Updates

In June, the board approved an updated Youth Safety Policy developed by the safety committee. The committee will go over the new policy, as well as updated color coding for tools, at the next member meeting.

The board also approved the purchase of a new SawStop to replace our current one. The new SawStop is built for an industrial work environment with a heavier workload, which is far better suited for Nova Labs’ usage requirements. Nova Labs will sell the old SawStop to help offset the cost of the new one. We will post more information regarding the sale shortly.

Additionally, the board approved up to $1,000 for the development of a prototype drone to break the world speed record for vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL). This drone will be part of a renewed marketing effort to generate more buzz (pun intended) about Nova Labs and all the amazing work we do!

Provided by Jim Girardi

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Support Nova Labs with Amazon Smile

Donate! If you shop at Amazon, please consider selecting Nova Labs, Inc. Reston, VA as your charitable donation through Amazon Smile.

Get more information on how to update your settings on Amazon’s help pages. And after that, just go to smile.amazon.com and eligible purchases will benefit Nova Labs, at no cost to you!

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Maker Faire NoVa 2019

Excerpt from the photo blog post.

The 6th annual MakerFaire NoVa was held on June 2, 2019 on the campus of George Mason University and was a great success. Wonderful weather (the rain held out until after many makers already had their stuff packed up), lots of cool things to look at, interact with, and learn about, as well as great talks and performances on the various stages around the faire; it was a good day.

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By Andrew Albosta

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Happenings in July

Jul 4 (and every Thursday): Thursday Tinker Time: Jewelry-making and Silversmithing
Jul 7: Sewing for Christmas in July
Jul 8: Damascus Steel Making & Hydraulic Press Sign-off
Jul 9: Hand Tool Basics: Whittling and Carving Knives
Jul 11 (every 2nd and 4th Thursday): Going Pro? Turning a Hobby into a Business
Jul 13: Blacksmithing 101
Jul 15: Basic Design and Drafting for Woodworkers
Jul 21: Kids Workshop: Make Your Own Plastics and Polymers
Jul 23: Hand Tool Basics: Saws for Joinery
Jul 28: Intro to Wood-turning Lathe Sign Off 
Jul 8-12: STEM Skills Summer Day Camp for Kids with Learning Disabilities
Jul 22-26: SuGObot Summer Day Camp
Aug 5-9: RobotMakers Day Camp

Check the Calendar of Events for the schedule of upcoming events

Provided by Jennyfer Peterson and Karen Shumway

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Call for volunteers

Critical needs:

• Front Desk: Saturday adult
• NOVA Pass Team: Desperately needs motivated volunteers to build the NOVA Pass hardware; no experience necessary, you will be taught all the electronics hands-on!
• Events Team: Marketing and graphics arts talents needed who can work actively on HelpDesk
• Outreach Team: Community liaisons needed
• Operations Services: HVAC technician, facilities coordinator, Wi-Fi guru, painting/interior decorations
• Summer Interns: At the college and high school level
• Nova Labs 3.0 Steering Group: People with talents in real estate, revenue, marketing, capital fundraising, architecture/general contracting, institutional relations, grant-writing, data gathering/analytics
• Education: Instructors with ideas on project-making classes and curricula

Additional Opportunities

In addition, NOVA Labs is seeking volunteer help for the following: 

• Looking for PHP hackers who enjoy working with APIs and systems integration
• Website – Site maintenance and upgrades
• Programmers needed for member care development effort
• Outreach team members – Help our team lead with website content, social media, pictures, marketing, and outreach to external communities
• Open-house tour helpers, second Saturday of each month
• Blog contributors for “how you made it” entries  
• Crafter’s Cove: Administrative Steward to assist Carrie

Contact volunteering@nova-labs.org if you’re interested! You can also visit the webpage at https://www.nova-labs.org/volunteer/

Member and Events Management System Planning: Maker Space Needs Brain Transplant

Nova Labs is a shooting star…From our start in 2012, we’ve grown to over 350 members. The demands on our ad-hoc “made at a maker space in 2012” member management software is on life support. We are looking for IT-savvy, not-necessarily-programmer types with that independent maker spirit to help us plan our migration.

There are two working groups exploring options for Nova Labs membership management software. Please contact Bob Coggeshall to find out more about Wild Apricot or John Hoskins to find out more about CiviCRM.