Ohio State’s Break and Make club gives students a creative and therapeutic outlet

Audrey Kunce
Mon, 27 Nov 2023 23:38:08 +0000
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Ohio State’s Break and Make club hosted its first meeting Sept. 7, giving students the opportunity to meet others and experiment with tools. Credit: Nina Nebesh

Buckeyes have a new reason to put on their safety — and thinking — caps.

Break and Make offers students opportunities to break objects and then remake them into something better — or merely different — using creative thinking, reverse engineering and tools found in a machine shop, according to its Ohio State Student Organization webpage. Club President Nina Nebesh, a third-year in agricultural engineering, said Break and Make gives its members experience working with tools while also serving as a stress reliever.

“We like to take old appliances and break them apart, because who doesn’t like to smash things a little bit?” Nebesh said. “We then try to see what we can do with the materials we have left over. It’s very low-requirement and stress-free.”

Debbie Hodson, the club’s vice president and a third-year in mechanical engineering, said she and Nebesh founded Break and Make in April 2023 as a part of their second-year scholars project for the Humanitarian Engineering Scholars program.

“I came up with the idea while having a late-night conversation with my roommate about how much I wanted to destroy things,” Nebesh said.

Nebesh said she originally came up with the club’s premise in November 2022 but had missed the deadline to create a new student organization. She then spent the ensuing winter season preparing to finally put the club into motion.

“I started writing up the constitution during my winter break and submitted the form as soon as registration opened,” Nebesh said.

After working hands-on with power tools in high school robotics, Nebesh said she felt the absence of shop work during her first two years at Ohio State.

Hodson said she faced a similar struggle. She did not have enough time to join more demanding on-campus engineering clubs but nevertheless wanted to apply the technical skills she was learning in nonclassroom settings.

“This club was created as a way to address our concerns without the competitive aspect so many engineering clubs encounter,” Hodson said.

Currently, Break and Make is holding meetings in Ohio State’s Humanitarian Engineering Innovation Lab. Nebesh said the club will soon move to Bolz Hall’s makerspace, which is under construction, but anticipated to be in operation by Spring 2024.

Nebesh said Break and Make gets most of its used appliances from Goodwill. Currently, she said the club is working on deconstructing and repurposing toasters and fans.

Due to the current lab’s limited space and tools, Nebesh said the club started small by constructing catapults from used appliances. Once Break and Make moves into the makerspace, Hodson said its members plan on building a cotton candy machine as the club’s first major project.

“When we mentioned our cotton candy machine to the makerspace worker, he was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that is awesome,’ and started pulling out tools and spare parts that the makerspace will have that we could use,” Hodson said.

Nebesh’s current goal for the club is to host a maker’s fair at the end of the spring semester. She said she would like to use the fair as a way to show off and potentially sell some of the club’s projects.

While Break and Make reflects the curious and creative spirit of engineering, Hodson said no prior engineering knowledge is actually required to join. In fact, she said this casual air sets the club apart from other student organizations.

“There isn’t necessarily an end goal like there is for some competitive engineering clubs,” Hodson said. “For us, we like to figure out a plan while we’re at a meeting. If prototyping isn’t working out, we can just call it a day and reconvene with new ideas at the next meeting.”

At present, the club is accepting new members and encourages anyone interested to show up to any scheduled meetings, which are held Thursdays at 7 p.m., and announced via the club’s GroupMe.

Nebesh said there is a required BuckeyeLearn online safety training which new members must complete before they are granted entry into the lab. Individuals who are interested can share their email with Nebesh at their first meeting in order to be enrolled in the course.

More information about Break and Make can be found on the club’s Instagram.