The addition of the new laser printer is presenting new opportunities for art and entrepreneurship for students and teachers alike. the construction of the Salata Technology & Innovation Center came with many new utilities. A new lunchroom, gaming center, wood-working utilities, and even a new laser engraving printer which has caught the attention of many people within the school. This machine is located outside of Mr. Biebel’s room on the third floor, and will most certainly be an asset to the “classes within the architecture and engineering sphere,” Mr. Vicary said.

Mr. Vicary is currently the individual who is most adept and knowledgeable about the printer, and he has already created an array of different designs with it. As it stands, the administration is still within the practice stages of the printer, and the majority of the engraved items have been promotional pieces for Prep. One of these pieces is a plaque that was given to Mr. Salata as a token of gratitude for his generous donation. Another item is a cutting board that has “Roll Ramblers” engraved into it. Mr. Vicary stated that the engraver has primarily been used with wood so far, but can be used on a variety of different materials such as plastic, ceramic, stone, glass, and more.

In terms of more class-oriented functions, he says that students within the architecture class could create the floor plans for a house, and then use the laser printer to cut out those pieces to assemble them.

Given the versatility of the laser printer, it does not necessarily belong to any one particular class. Mr. Vicary also mentioned some of its potential uses within Mr. Bhatti’s entrepreneurship class; kids in this class would have the ability to come up with an idea of a potential product that they would want to sell, and then create a prototype model for it. This is essentially the function of most of the new equipment within the new building, that students can come up with ideas and make them a reality.

At the moment, the school has two laser printers available for use. Because of the vast number of students that would have the laser printer at their disposal, it might seem as though two printers may not be enough to support the classes. This is not the shortfall, however. The only caveat to the printers is that they require a license for a particular drawing program called “CorelDRAW,” meaning that students are not limited by printers, but by how many printers they are able to design on using the licensed program.

As of now, the administration is looking into alternative ways to get around this issue with CorelDRAW, such as some sort of program that will allow students to save their work on another file so that it can be transferred into the program and the engraving can take place from there.

This new piece of technology has the possibility to open up many new doors for the students and faculty. It is truly a matter of one’s imagination that will limit what they are able to produce.