Xometry Celebrates Young Innovators at FutureFest
Xometry participated in FutureFest, an event that celebrates the imagination and innovation of children through hands-on activities, exhibits, demos, and cultural performances.
FutureFest, an annual festival hosted by the KID Museum, took place this past Sunday, Sep. 15. The event celebrates the imagination and innovation of children through various activities, exhibits, demos, and cultural performances.
FutureFest allows children to build the future—literally. One interactive exhibit, “Kid City,” was an area where children could use various materials like modular cardboard shapes and rope to build houses and trees. At Origami Alley, kids could use origami-based techniques similar to those used with NASA’s expandable space structures. Other activities included building race cars, testing magnetic levitation trains, and propelling stomp rockets skyward.
The wide variety of hands-on activities offered at FutureFest
This year, Xometry sponsored the “Fabrication Station” at FutureFest, which was an area for kids to get hands-on with 3D printers and prints. Xometry believes in KID Museum's mission to “empower kids to become the creative problem-solvers of tomorrow.” This is similar to Xometry’s mission to empower our customers, who are often mechanical and design engineers, to solve pressing, real-world problems across major industries.
The Fabrication Station sponsored by Xometry, where KID Museum volunteers helped children interact with 3D printers and 3D printed parts, including those provided by Xometry
Xometry provided 3D printed polypanels, t-shirts, and beach balls for children at the Fabrication Station. Many Xometry staff and their families participated in the event as well, collecting vendor swag, proudly wearing Xometry t-shirts, and getting hands-on in ways they had never experienced before.
Some notable experiences for the Xometry Director of DevOps’s children included a maker booth where they watched a high school student airbrush designs onto sneakers. The Xometry VP of Growth Marketing’s children interacted with LEGO structures and the VP of Retention Marketing's son enjoyed Origami Alley and Xometry's 3D printed polypanels.
Xometry staff brought their children to FutureFest. On left, Chris Cope’s godson wears a Xometry Engineer In Training t-shirt.
FutureFest drew over 15,000 local participants, most of whom were families and kids. Xometry is proud to give back to its Maryland community by providing additional opportunities for children to unlock their potential. Xometry joins Boeing, Emergent BioSolutions, and Lockheed Martin as educators and developers of the next generation of engineers through the KID Museum.
You can find out more about the festival on the KID Museum’s website.