On 22 April 2026, our team member Rabin Yitzahk led a hands-on 3D printing workshop for students at the Riley Orton Foundation's Holiday STEM Camp in Kenya.
About the Riley Orton Foundation
The Riley Orton Foundation, through its Akili STEM Arts Academy, works to empower marginalized children and youth in rural Western Kenya with access to education, life skills, and technology. Its programs include school-based initiatives and holiday STEM camps that introduce students to coding, robotics, AI, 3D printing, and other emerging technologies. The focus is on gender equity and sustainable community development, and on increasing students' agency in pursuing STEM subjects and careers.
What the session looked like
Students worked on laptops to design 3D models while Rabin taught from the front of the room, with the design workspace projected so everyone could follow each step on their own screens.
A 3D printer was set up in the room, and Rabin walked the group through how it works up close. Seeing the machine itself, the frame, the filament spool and the moving parts, makes the idea of turning a digital design into a physical object much less abstract.
Between the group demonstrations, Rabin moved around the room and worked with students one on one at their laptops, which is where most of the real learning happens in a session like this. A student who is stuck on one step usually needs a two-minute conversation, not a repeat of the whole lesson.
Why 3D printing belongs in a STEM camp
Most STEM subjects reach students as ideas on a page or a screen. A 3D printer changes that: a shape a student designed in the morning becomes something they can hold. That loop from idea to object to "what would I change?" is close to how real engineering work goes, and it builds confidence in a way that is hard to get from theory alone.
It also fits naturally alongside the coding, robotics, and AI work the Foundation already teaches, since a printed part can become a housing, a mount, or a moving piece of a project students build later.
Work with us
If your school, foundation, or community group is planning a holiday camp or an after-school STEM programme, we would like to hear from you. See our workshops or get in touch and tell us what your students are working towards. You can also see how our STEM workshops and teacher training work.
