The Vermont Agency of Education will help Generator Makerspace expand its youth programming this fall. Over the past 12 years, the nonprofit makerspace in Burlington’s South End has become a hub for creativity and collaboration. The grant, which totals $750,000 over the course of five years, will support programming for kids in grades 4 through 12, according to Veronica Newton, director of programs and partnerships.
Generator is home to six technical “shops” — for woodworking, metalworking, electronics, jewelry making, sewing and rapid prototyping. The grant will help expand access to them through afterschool programs, camps and community workshops. Generator already operates on a sliding-scale fee structure; Newton said the grant will further subsidize costs for lower-income participants. The makerspace also plans to hire a part-time youth instructor with the money, she said.
Generator’s youth programs focus on STEAM rather than just STEM: science, technology, engineering, arts and math. Newton explained that with support from the Agency of Ed, the makerspace will continue to tailor interdisciplinary options to student interests — offering Dungeons & Dragons-themed programming, for example.
Allowing kids to work through challenges in subjects they’re interested in makes it more likely they’ll keep at it in the future, Newton said. Through hands-on learning opportunities, Generator gives kids skills and knowledge that can be applied to academics and beyond — to entrepreneurship, for example.
“You’re gonna mess up, and you’re gonna get angry, and you’re gonna problem solve,” Newton said. “And then at the end, [you] have successful products.”
Seven Days intern Cecilia Luce is a Northwestern University student of journalism and environmental sciences and has reported for the Daily Northwestern.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Generating STEAM”
This article appears in Kids VT Back to School • 2026.
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