CHICOPEE, Mass. – Maddy Smiariowski has been a member of the SkillBuilders Makerspace+ vocational day program in Chicopee for a few months now. As a peer mentor, she loves being able to help her clients fuel their creative passions through arts and technology.
“I’m a peer mentor here, I’ve been here since it first started,” Smiariowski said. “I’ve been working with different clients here. We do gaming, we do arts and crafts, and I just like hanging out with them and getting involved in different activities we do here.”
What You Need To Know
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- SkillBuilders Makerspace+ is a vocational day program in Chicopee that works with people involved in the Department of Developmental Services by helping improve their entrepreneurship skills in the creative space like painting and gaming
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- SkillBuilders is apart of ServiceNet, a nonprofit organization which serves people with individual needs as well as substance abuse issues and homelessness
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- SkillBuilders runs Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and offers a transportation service that runs through several western Massachusetts cities and towns for families interested in becoming members of the program
- Maddy Smiariowski and K-Veon Montanez are both members of the SkillBuilders program
The SkillBuilders program specifically works with people involved in the Department of Developmental Services by helping improve their entrepreneurship skills in the creative space like painting and gaming.
“Printmaking, book making, stamping,” said program director Tiffany Carter. “We have a member who likes to bead, and we’re moving forward and helping them set up their own business through here where they can make some money as well as including the art too.”
Springfield resident K-Veon Montanez joined the SkillBuilders program a few months ago through his love of gaming. He hopes to develop his technology skills one day into a job repairing consoles.
“So right now, I have a Nintendo Gamecube with a Super Smash Brothers skin and I haven’t repaired it yet, but it will be repaired soon,” Montanez said. “And this is just a test to make sure I’m really good at it so I can start a business.”
Learning the skills to help people in need is what Smiarowski also hopes to achieve in the long run.
“Later in life to get a job in at a daycare or at a summer camp,” Smiarowski said. “A couple years ago, I volunteered at a summer camp in Hatfield and I loved it.”
SkillBuilders runs Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and offers a transportation service that runs through several western Massachusetts cities and towns like Easthampton and Wilbraham for families interested in becoming members of the program.
