Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic School is happy to announce that their Innovation Center is up and running at full capacity!  Due to a very generous grant from the E.L. Wiegand Foundation, Our Lady’s School is the first school in the Archdiocese of Las Vegas to have, as part of its curriculum, a MakerSpace, named The Innovation Center.  

The Innovation Center is certainly an asset for our students enabling them to design and create 3D models with our state-of-the-art 3D printers. The Center also expands the exploration of virtual reality.  This adds more in-depth learning experiences for students incorporating many subjects such as science, math, social studies, and art. As part of our Innovation Center, we offer the utilization of our Makerspace cart that houses arts and craft supplies, such as paint and clay, and beginner-level electrical components, such as batteries and light bulbs, to build projects.

The use of our 3D printers helps students and teachers expand their creativity on paper and digitally on the computer using student-friendly software.  Teachers are able to take their lessons to the next level by incorporating what they learn in the classroom with what they are able to create in the Innovation Center.  During the planning and designing stages, this allows students to apply their learning of basic mathematics and geometry in order to successfully print their 3D models.  

Our Virtual Reality (VR) studio assists students in virtually building models, exploring wonders of the world, and learning basics of mechanical engineering without having to physically pick up any tools.  The Virtual reality Studio also provides extra curricular games that allow students to learn and interact with our VR computers. Our Lady of Las Vegas students have additional opportunities to start learning specific higher-grade level subjects, such as calculus with our fully integrated mathematics software, and anatomy and physiology with our full interaction VR science applications.

Our Innovation Center also houses our new poster printer for teachers and students to print their collaborated artwork for special school events.  Additionally, Our Lady’s Innovation Center has slowly applied the study and building of Robotics for the middle school grades.   The institution of the OLLV Innovation Center and its focus on high achievement of all students is just one more way Our Lady of Las Vegas prepares its students for the outside world.