{"id":27166,"date":"2024-06-14T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T22:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southwest-open-school-launches-makerspace-for-entrepreneurial-students\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:52:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:52:24","slug":"southwest-open-school-launches-makerspace-for-entrepreneurial-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southwest-open-school-launches-makerspace-for-entrepreneurial-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Open School launches makerspace for entrepreneurial students"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Southwest
Southwest Open School\u2019s new makerspace. (Casey Simpson\/Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Southwest Open School students soon will be taking their entrepreneurial endeavors to various locations in Cortez with the help of the school\u2019s newly purchased makerspace, purchased in conjunction with the school\u2019s new entrepreneurial class.<\/p>\n

According to SWOS Director Casey Simpson, the idea for the entrepreneurial class came last year when Justice Ramos approached Simpson with his nonprofit Fundamental Needs, asking whether SWOS would be interested in adding an entrepreneurship class to the school\u2019s electives.<\/p>\n

Ramos explained that he had funding from the LOR Foundation and would be able to hire a teacher to teach the class, as well as a mentor to support the teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo teachers sounded like a great deal,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cThe kids really liked it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the entrepreneurship class, students utilized the teacher\u2019s guidance in formulating a business idea, creating a business plan and learning how to put their plan in motion, something Simpson said is invaluable for students who wish to start their own business, as they are learning skills that will serve them in their goals before they graduate.<\/p>\n

At a recent pitch competition at the Elks Lodge in Cortez, three SWOS groups presented their business ideas to a panel, and all students who participated received some sort of funding for their businesses.<\/p>\n

One of the businesses was created by two SWOS students, one who acts as the artist and the other who takes more of the business side of things.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially, they make clothing for extra large people, because they said that type of clothing wasn\u2019t readily available at Walmart and other local retailers,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n

The second group of students created their own skin lotion company, and the last business idea was started by a SWOS student named Garrett Samora who wanted to start a maker\u2019s space.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really know what a maker\u2019s space was before that, but it\u2019s a space where people can work on their ideas and start their own businesses in entrepreneurial fashion,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n

Soon after, Simpson said he was sent a Facebook ad from the entrepreneurship teacher advertising a dual axle trailer with an office space built into it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gathered together the funding and bought it so that the students and the continuation of the entrepreneurship class next year can make their ideas come true and potentially sell their items at some locations in town. We can drive the trailer to a parking lot,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n

While there is no signage advertising what the makerspace is, the students can still work on their business projects and even sell their items from that space.<\/p>\n

The maker\u2019s space will also be used for students in SWOS\u2019s bike program who will be doing a hands-on learning class in the upcoming school year that will entail turning old bike frames and bike parts into jewelry boxes, wind chimes and jewelry.<\/p>\n

Another SWOS teacher has a booth at the farmer\u2019s market each summer where she sells fudge, \u201cfelted creations\u201d and jewelry, and she will be able to utilize the maker\u2019s space.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s going to be doing hands-on art this year to have our artists create and sell stuff,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cI\u2019m just really excited. Schools like SWOS, alternative education campuses, have a tough time generating the funding required to build a huge welding shop or carpentry shop or things of that nature, so this maker space idea actually really aligns really well with our alternative philosophy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese students can go out and start making legitimate career money right off the bat with whatever great ideas they come up with, and I think it\u2019ll improve their agency and help them pursue their hopes and dreams,\u201d Simpson continued. \u201cAnd if nothing else, see what works and see what doesn\u2019t work. This is an opportunity for those students to continue to grow and figure that stuff out before they launch it as an adult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simpson added that having a class of this nature in a rural community will help students lay the groundwork to succeed in their business goals, while helping provide a blueprint for how to make their dream a reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cA small, rural community like Montezuma County where a lot of small businesses start and we\u2019ve all seen businesses start to fail in a pretty quick succession, this entrepreneurial class can do a lot for the community because students will be prepared,\u201d Simpson said. \u201cThey always say have a three year plan on not paying yourself for at least two years, but they\u2019ll have the groundwork to start businesses. We don\u2019t have malls to provide all the things that people want, so that makes entrepreneurship that much more important in our area.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students are going to be able to utilize the space this summer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[431,21,155,28,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-27166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-business-general","tag-cortez","tag-education","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79972,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27166\/revisions\/79972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27166"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=27166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}