Local youth learn new skills and become inspired in URI’s Makerspace

KINGSTON, R.I. — May 19, 2025 — Although they live a few miles from the University of Rhode Island, many of the teenagers from the Jonnycake Youth Center in Peace Dale, Rhode Island, never visited the Kingston Campus until they became involved in a hands-on program intended to teach new skills and inspire a love of learning.

About a dozen teens from the Center brought their creative spirit to URI’s Makerspace once or twice a week throughout the spring semester. The Makerspace is one of six Innovation Labs in URI’s Robert L. Carothers Library & Learning Commons.

URI student Gerry Price (left) shows students from the Jonnycake Youth Center how to make custom designed buttons in the URI Makerspace. Price is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in psychology at URI.

URI students and staff taught the teens, who were mostly freshmen and sophomores at South Kingstown High School, how to custom design and fabricate T-shirts, hats, bags, buttons, and key chains using such technology and equipment as graphic design software, embroidery machines, heat presses, vinyl cutters, laser engravers, 3D printers, and button presses.

The Jonnycake Youth Center, is located at 1231 Kingstown Road, provides a safe space for teens after school. The short-term goal of the partnership between the Youth Center and the URI Makerspace was to guide Youth Center staff toward building their own makerspace and to empower their students to eventually teach their peers how to use the equipment.

Duran Searles (right), director of the Jonnycake Youth Center, looks at the T-shirt screen printed by South Kingstown High School sophomore Collin Hoprel.

“We are committed to developing mentorship opportunities that embody the philosophy that ‘the best way to learn is to teach,’” said Keith Ranaldi, director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the Innovation Labs. “Through our partnership with the Johnnycake Youth Center, we continue to cultivate essential skills and foster a purpose-driven community, empowering both URI students and the young minds they mentor.”

While the skills the teens acquired will be useful, the overall experience of visiting the campus regularly, enjoying dinner in one of the dining halls, and learning from URI students, has changed how they perceive URI and higher education in general.

“The experience for some of the kids has been life-changing,” said Duran Searles, director of the Jonnycake Youth Center. “Most of them have never been on campus before, even though they live in the same community as URI. Their perspective on URI has changed for the better. By going to the Makerspace, they no longer see themselves as outsiders, but as part of a community that previously seemed out of reach. By working with the URI students, they can now see themselves as future URI students.”

“This program has allowed us to learn things that we wouldn’t have learned elsewhere,” said Collin Hoprel, a 16-year-old sophomore from South Kingstown High School. “Partly because of this experience, I’m starting to think about college. Going to URI through the Talent Development program is one of the options I’m considering.”

“Working with the youth from the Jonnycake Youth Center has been an inspirational experience for me and hopefully an insightful experience for them,” said Gerry Price, a psychology student at URI who is a rising senior and a Providence resident. “I felt inspired by this new generation of free thinkers who have so much to offer the world with their creativity and nonstop humor. I look forward to seeing more of their work and reading about their accomplishments in the future.”

The program is one of the initiatives funded through a $325,000 Learn365RI grant. The Learn365RI grants were established in 2023 as part of Governor Dan McKee’s Advancing Learning Beyond the 180-Day School Year program, which supports out-of-school learning programs. The Jonnycake Center for Hope, URI’s College of Education, the South Kingstown School District, and the Town of South Kingstown are considered partners on the grant.

“One of the goals of the initiative is to provide opportunities for South Kingstown youth to access postsecondary education,” said Diane Kern, professor of English language arts and literacy teacher education at URI, and the co-principal investigator of the grant with Kate Brewster, chief executive officer of the Jonnycake Center for Hope.

“The URI Makerspace is a state-of-the-art space for entrepreneurial thinking and working,” said Kern. “Knowing Keith’s Ranaldi’s willingness to partner on education initiatives, Duran’s skill as a craftsman and woodworker, and their commitment to their students, I knew it would be an ideal match.”

The staff of the URI Makerspace and the Jonnycake Center for Hope are discussing how to build upon the success of this year’s program. Their goal is to increase community and university support to offer more learning and mentorship opportunities this summer and during the next school year.