Entrepreneurship Garage Workshops Help Students Discover What’s Possible

In the prototyping space at the Entrepreneurship Garage, students can work on their ideas with 3D printers, laser cutters, a CNC machine and many more tools that most students don’t even know about. Two such tools are the embroidery machine and a cutting machine, which students can use to cut out vinyl, for example, to print on textiles.

Hope Tyson works as a garage assistant in the prototyping space. “I think if more people knew that they had all this technology at their fingertips, they’d be using the space a lot more,” Tyson said, “there’s just a lot of things that you can do here.” That’s why Tyson offers workshops on various tools in the prototyping space. 

Today, she starts by explaining the basics of the embroidery machine—how students can input designs, how they can embroider with different colors and how to make sure the fabric doesn’t wrinkle.

Expanding Entrepreneurial Horizons

One of the students in attendance is Caden Tolentino, a third-year studying electrical engineering. “I came here to explore the makerspace area and learn about embroidery, to broaden my horizon,” Tolentino said. Tolentino has already gained experience as an entrepreneur. 

“I started a little business myself, it’s called Footy Connect,” Tolentino said. “The goal was to connect younger soccer players with D1 and pro soccer players to get some mentorship and advice.” 

For student entrepreneurs like him, the Entrepreneurship Garage serves as a hub to explore and test their entrepreneurial ideas and interests. 

Students who are interested in exploring the Entrepreneurship Garage can sign up and take a 20-minute introductory course on Moodle to get 24-hour access to the space. Here they can join hundreds of other students in trying out their ideas.

A Hub for Entrepreneurs

In the Garage, students can also mingle with real-world entrepreneurs, thanks to a partnership of NC State with Raleigh Founded, a coworking space for founders. 

Students also receive support from Entrepreneurship Garage Manager, Eren Hebert, who spends most of his time helping students make the best use of the Garage’s prototyping equipment to achieve their entrepreneurial goals, and from student garage assistants such as Hope Tyson. 

Tyson continues the workshop by explaining to the participants how to read a file into the cutting machine. She will help if it doesn’t work on the first try.

“I want to teach people how to use the different machines,” Tyson said. “There’s a lot of prototyping equipment here that can help students start their business or prototype their products.” 

There is one more thing Tyson wants to emphasize: that it’s free to use the Engineering Garage, even the 3D printers. “You can come in and print whatever you want,” Tyson said.

Tolentino, the student entrepreneur, liked that he got to know the Entrepreneurship garage better thanks to the workshop. “There are so many valuable resources here to build my own things, or really learn about anything, or do anything, and get a lot of hands-on experience that you normally wouldn’t inside of the classroom,” Tolentino said. He hopes that more people will explore the Entrepreneurship Garage. 

“I recommend people just to try it and get a feel for their own things and experience things their own way,” Tolentino said, “so just come here to get a feel for it, you might like it.”