IDEA Center Forum

Hey everyone! I'm long overdue for an update here, so let me share the progress we've made since my last post. First of all, the gym flooring used in the shop portion of the space is completely in and we've begun installing the wood vinyl flooring in the retail portion of the space. Here are a few photos of that. One huge thing we've recently crossed off the list are the tables we designed to mount to the posts going down the center of the room. In general, these posts suck, you can see them in the images above. They break up the room and are a general inconvenience. Alex, however, had an idea to take advantage of this to incorporate some creative work tables. Basically, we sandwich each post with steel tubes on which we can then attach table tops. It was a great idea and It was an amazing team effort executing this concept and personally I am so proud of everyone for coming together and getting it done so quickly. Here is the media we have on the tables. Alright, so the next major item in the works is the lockers and bench top which acts as a divide between the retail/display and shop space. This, as well as the center post tables are both sketched out in the initial layout drafts as well. The lockers have this awesome battered look to them, and although the color is a bit controversial among us, I am personally all for it. We got them from DATA, the woodshop there no longer had a need for them and they were fated for scrap. Below the lockers is a riser frame made of redwood 2x4's. On top of the lockers are two redwood slabs which are currently being coated in polyurethane. Despite this, we decided to mock them up together anyways to see how we like it... we love it. Besides the amazing strides we've made with the construction of the space, we've also made some headway on getting Internet and a landline setup as well. By the 18th we should hopefully have both! That's all I have for now I think! This post ended up being much longer than I'd like so from now on I will try to post a little more frequently and break things into smaller chunks.

Great progress today installing some hard, rubber flooring in the rear workspace of the facility. The mats are from Pavigym an go together in puzzle pieces like most foam flooring. The process was a surprisingly difficult one, though in the end not insanely time consuming. Big thanks to Ashley and Peyton for helping it go by quickly! The next step is to clean these things. As you might be able to see in the media I've attached below, they're pretty dirty.

Honestly, I don't know what else to say. The lease has been signed and finally, after four long months, the STEMbassadors IDEA Center has officially found its home at 1264 North Ventura Avenue. We'd like to give ourselves about a month to prepare the facility, meaning we are aiming for a grand opening date of June 1st. The excitement in each and every one of us is immeasurable. We all believe this facility has the potential to make a massive, lasting impact on our community, and are filled with determination to realize that potential. So now the real work begins, and thanks to all the preparations we've made in waiting, we are perfectly prepared to take on this challenge. From now on expect to see more frequent updates here and on our social media channels. That's all I have for now! Here are a few pictures from today.