1/ Like many others, today is my last day at @LaurentianU, and because I refuse to merely go quietly into that good night, here's a list of some of the things I'm most proud of during my 3 years (to the day) in the role.

2/ We built @LUFoundry. From scratch. Innovation had a tiny office in the Parker building and we grew it into a 5000 square foot home with a fully equipped Makerspace entirely designed for students of EVERY discipline to have access to these tools and technologies.

3/ We started off strong! In our first open house to students we were already featuring an alumni run company showing off their work in progress VR game with the first playable demo. Students, staff, guests, all had the chance to see just what our northern talent could do.

4/ We provided a home to other groups across the city working to foster talent and innovation. We had @NORCAT, @RegBusCentre as guests of course, but also gave @GDGSudbury a free home for their meetups, workshops, and events. We built a focal point on campus and beyond!

5/ We featured our first guest speaker, Mark-Marsolais of @birchbarkcoffee to examine social entrepreneurship and the indigenous lens he brought to his version of a coffee company. Our first of many incredible speakers!

6/ I regularly taught, in both workshops and 1-on-1's, every skill and technique I have come to learn in my career as far as innovation and entrepreneurship. I shared every technique for brainstorming, prototyping, ideation, etc and every technical skill I could.

7/ I worked once with a Kinesiology student who was curious about 3D printed prosthetics. His curiosity turned into a year-long project in which I coached him through coding, manufacturing, and programmable electronics to build a responsive prosthetic.

8/ I was so proud of how much he'd learned and how much energy he consistently had to keep pushing into the next step that we had him speak for us when we announced our @FedNor funding for the Makerspace. Who better to illustrate what we were all about?

9/ We threw our first birthday party, hilariously with custom cupcakes, balloons, and an excellent speaker lineup. Most importantly; we had a completely full house. Again. From a tiny office in parker to a FULL 5000 square foot facility. In two years.

10/ We brought in students from outside of LU, stretching that "Provide opportunities to EVERY student" mindset as far as it would go. We helped @miss_visentin and her young class to learn some tech skills, try to build parachutes for eggs, and generally have a good time.

11/ We partnered with local organizations like the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee to give some of our creative students interesting (PAID) work. In this project, we built a dramatized model of the Sudbury watershed complete with a tiny big nickel and Parker building!

12/ Of course, I have to mention the engineers. Always so confident in their builds. My job was to help them learn the skills to build, but I never corrected their ideas. Innovation is best learned through iteration, so instead, I'd enjoy watching both the failures and successes.

13/ The pandemic struck. Like everyone else it really threw us off our game. But we spooled up to help where we could. I partnered with a local doctor to begin custom work on a shield to reduce the risk of the intubation procedure. Back to my prototyping roots for a purpose.

14/ We also partnered up with MANY other local institutions to create a mass production of face shields to meet the urgent need of local care homes. We delivered thousands. I will be eternally grateful to the other institutions who joined us in this massive effort.

15/ And now, just like that, the legacy ends. This strange eccentric little program and space that had no right punching so far above our weight. It was just myself and my immensely supportive boss ( @GiseleRoberts1) to whom I will be forever thankful.

16/ To everyone responsible for this destruction of a public service and for looking at a university from a corporate lens; I hope you face repercussions. Universities are not businesses. They're spaces and a collection of people designed to advance what we are all capable of.

17/ Maybe that viewpoint is a little too idealized for these times. But I'm an innovator; so to settle for anything less than ideal is to admit defeat. Some day I'll write an examination of this whole thing from the perspective of what pivots Laurentian could have pursued.

18/ But for now; so long @LaurentianU. I hope everything we've worked to build doesn't go down in flames. #FundLU #LaurentianUniversity