Category Archives: Meet Our Community

Meet Our Community: Melissa

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From an early age, Melissa’s heart was set on creating and making, and helping people along the way. Years later, after bouncing around from place to place, Melissa eventually found a home in Colorado. And in her search for a local space to help bring her visions to life, she found Monumental Impact. 

Now one of our newer members, Melissa uses the makerspace to plan and execute her designs, start to finish. In fact, she’s already created several pieces.

The Journey to Monument

Before moving to Colorado, Melissa traveled. A LOT. After studying to become a teacher, she went international to help resource-constrained communities build and support education programs. She even spent 8 years in Uganda working with educational non-profits. 

During her time abroad, she gained experience in programming, development, and formal and non-formal education, while pursuing her passion to help others. Really, it’s at the heart of what she does.

Fast forward several years and she’s back in the US pursuing a Master’s Degree at the University of Pennsylvania. There, she was able to make use of the makerspace provided by the Integrated Product Design program she was a part of. She was able to explore production design, CAD, entrepreneurship, and more. Melissa was also able to pursue another passion of hers: creating unique, fun products.

From Christmas Ornaments to Lamps…

Taking everything she learned — and her passion to just CREATE that she developed as a young girl making Christmas ornaments for her Grandma — Melissa now uses Monumental Impact’s makerspace to design and craft new products, while exploring what she can do next with her creations. Already she’s made rings, earrings, a hamster toilet paper holder, and an ostrich egg lamp. Each has its own unique charm. And when asked what her favorite was, she said, “I loved making all of them. I like different designs for different reasons…”

While making her products, Melissa has found the laser cutter and 3D printer extremely helpful during the process. And of course, the opportunity to learn more, along with connecting with others. She hopes to see more of that in our space in the future. 

“When you talk through a project with other like-minded creatives it helps to move things forward.”

Bringing her ideas to life isn’t her only focus, though, here at Monumental Impact. She’s also interested in exploring more of what it takes to run a business and how to possibly sell her products. During her time as a teacher, she had to focus on finding resources and making them available to schools in the most affordable way possible. Whether that’s sourcing locally or repurposing items — and she’s interested in exploring that concept here.

Let’s make something together…

Melissa hopes to continue making products, exploring how she can turn her ideas into a sustainable business, and learn all she can. Part of that means collaborating.

If you’re interested in bringing your ideas to life, a membership with Monumental Impact is the perfect starting point. Because in addition to the tools you need to get started, you’ll also have access to a collaborative environment dedicated to helping you grow. 

Melissa’s advice if you’re still unsure about taking that first step to become a maker? “Making that first step can be overwhelming, because overcoming it can be difficult. But the more that you try, starting small maybe, and talking to people and being in a space like this, you can see how other people do things and learn. And I think it is a rewarding adventure to stick [it] out and get over the initial uncertainty.”

Another great starting point is one of our orientations. It’s FREE and open to the public. You’ll learn more about Monumental Impact, our events and programs, our available tools (like that laser cutter and 3D printer) and more.

Want to stay connected? Follow us on our socials.

Corey standing at the entrance to our makerspace

Meet Our Community: Corey

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Corey’s first introduction to Monumental Impact was at our booth at a July 4th event four years ago, and when we, in collaboration with D38’s Bearbotics, reached out to his school, Bear Creek Elementary School, to start a FLL (FIRST LEGO League) team. Though he couldn’t join the makerspace quite yet —  he was too young at the time — Monumental Impact was in the back of his mind as he grew older. Until eventually, he was able to join our robotics program when he entered high school. 

Now, Corey serves as the FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) Captain of the Bionic Sharks. He manages the team along with organizing events, outreach initiatives, and, of course, building and programming robots for FTC competitions.

LEGO and Python and Java…

Corey’s first introduction to robotics was his elementary school’s FLL program. He got his first taste of what competitive robotics was all about. Corey and his team even won a qualifier, which gave them a Golden Ticket to the State Championship! From then on, he was hooked.

You might be asking yourself, “What is competitive robotics?” Put simply, teams work together to build a robot to do certain gamified tasks and present their journey. The task that needs to be accomplished depends on the competition and season — it’s always changing, which is part of the fun!

“I like seeing progress building up and working through obstacles to get everything together.”

Throughout elementary, middle, and now high school, Corey has gained more experience in building and programming. In 6th grade, he learned Python and began exploring other programming languages. He’s now going into his 3rd year competing in the FTC program. The reason he’s stuck with competitive robotics and programming for so long? He enjoys driving the robots he’s helped create and seeing how things work.

Competing with Monumental Impact

While competing with Monumental Impact’s team in the FTC wasn’t his first foray into competitive robotics, Corey has learned more about what goes into building a robot, leading a team, and programming (specifically JAVA) during his time here.

With access to the tools in our makerspace, along with mentors to help guide him and the team, Corey was more easily able to build the competitive robot he and the team wanted to. His favorite project so far involves Sharkbyte, a robot he helped develop that made it to the Colorado State FTC Championship last year (it even went undefeated against several opponents)!

Corey is also involved in a new competition the Monumental Impact community is launching with others in the Colorado Frontage called the Open Robotics Competition (ORC). He sees this new game and robot format as a great learning opportunity — for himself and his new recruits to the Bionic Sharks. 

Beyond robotics, Corey is also learning key skills for his future: leadership, management, communication, planning and organizing, even fundraising! Through his efforts, Corey makes sure his team is the best it can be. He hopes that more people join the program and experience everything competitive robotics, and Monumental Impact, has to offer. Because it’s not just about developing cool technology, it’s an opportunity to grow as a person.

“It is not just building the robots and competing, it includes many skills like working with a team and creating something that is functionally [competitive].”

To the future

Ultimately, Corey is striving towards a future in computer science. He hopes to keep working in robotics and learn more about how artificial intelligence can improve his builds. He also hopes to get more of the younger generations interested in STEM and competitive robotics. More importantly, it’s FUN. As Corey so aptly put it: “Having a hobby and taking some time where you can do your own thing and not stress about life is very important.”

To that end, Corey is preparing for the next FTC season, BioBuzz, with its Game Reveal in early September. He’s currently leading fundraising and recruitment efforts to help keep the team going. This includes planning scrimmages and demonstrations with other teams. 

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, Corey is also helping out at our booth at that same July 4th event he found Monumental Impact at all those years ago. You’ll be able to see a demonstration with a robot and learn more about FTC, ORC, and Monumental Impact.

Or contact us and let us know you’re interested!

Meet Our Community: Nicholas

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In July of 2025, Nicholas was visiting a local July 4th Street Fair. There, he came across a booth for Monumental Impact. And that would be a big first step for Nick’s budding career in technology and entrepreneurship. Starting as a member, exploring combat robotics and 3D printing, Nick has grown and learned so much over the past year with us. He’s also recently become an intern and started turning his passion for tabletop gaming into a viable business idea.

Inscryption to Warhammer

If you’re not familiar with tabletop gaming, think of it as a more complex and immersive board game. Oftentimes, it’ll include role-playing, intricate rules and storylines, and even miniature figures to help tell the story. Think of more well-known games like Warhammer or Dungeons and Dragons.

Nick’s first real immersion into tabletop gaming began with the game Inscryption. It introduced him to how in-depth a game could be, as well as others in the gaming community. From there, he began to learn more and more about the industry. Today, his favorite game to play is Legions Imperialis, a Warhammer game that uses some of the smallest minifigures and models, allowing for larger-scale campaigns. “With the community, whether it’s talking about Warhammer or other experiences, it is a great time.”

Where Monumental Impact comes in…

Through his membership and internship at Monumental Impact, Nick has been able to learn more about 3D printing, resin printing, and entrepreneurship — and the potential to create his own tabletop game.

“That’s when I knew I could do a lot, if I had the resources available to make tabletop games.”

During his experience in our combat robotics program and utilizing our printers to create models for Warhammer, Nick found inspiration and gained the experience he needed to start developing prototypes for his own game. In fact, he’s started building his own kit. Many assets have already been made, as well as a dice tower (pictured above) that’s currently in the works. To help invite more tabletop gaming community members into the space, he is recruiting others to help make and deliver custom requests for people wanting a game kit of their own.

But like with any business, creating the product is only half the battle. Through our entrepreneurship program, Nick has been able to learn more about developing products and how to make his venture more sustainable. For example, how important it is to consider the unit cost of an item and how to get better value out of your product.

Nick has also been developing ways to market and spread interest for his product, namely by being one of the leading forces planning and developing outreach events for Monumental Impact, which will spread the joys of tabletop gaming to the Tri-Lakes area.

“Because I believe that tabletop gaming is a great activity for anyone to play and connect.”

Nick’s hope is to keep making game kits and eventually finish his own game. Beyond that, he wants to get more people involved in tabletop gaming. By planning events — like home-brewed gaming sessions and cohorts for members at Monumental Impact — he wants to provide a space where people can experience everything that tabletop gaming has to offer. And who knows? Maybe they can start learning how to make a game themselves.

Want to get involved?

Nick can usually be found at our makerspace Tuesdays and Thursdays if you want to drop by and chat.

Or you can let us know how excited you are to explore tabletop gaming at our booth during this year’s July 4th Street Fair (yes! We’ll be there again!). Can’t make it? Drop by our makerspace during open hours. We look forward to seeing you soon.