Joppa's STEAM Lab opened last August. It has 3D printers, a Glowforge laser cutter capable of engraving wood, acrylic, leather, and rubber, design software, and — as of recently — a junior who taught himself to fix the equipment when it breaks.

That would be Kasey Cohoon.

Kasey doesn't actually take a class in the lab. He's dual-enrolled in welding at the community college, and when he doesn't have to be there, he wanders into the makerspace on his own time.

"I just go in there and play around with it," he said.

The "playing around" included diagnosing and repairing malfunctioning 3D printers. How did he learn to do that?

"I just sat down there and figured it out," he said.

No manual. No instruction. Just a kid who likes understanding how things work.

Kasey's career plans don't involve screens. He wants to pursue welding — starting at the cement plant right down the road where his dad works, saving up for about four years, and then applying for pipeline or pipe fitter work through a union.

When asked if he'd stay in the area long-term, he didn't hesitate.

"No," he said.

Freshman Corbin Womack is the lab's other regular, and his orientation is the opposite — all screens, all code, all the time.

"I'm just fascinated with technology," he said.

Corbin has been designing and printing a custom baseball card holder for Superintendent Dr. Greg Goins using TinkerCAD — not downloading a template, but building the 3D model himself on his Chromebook, showing Goins the digital render for approval, then transferring the file to a separate computer for slicing (because Chromebooks don't support the slicing software), loading it onto a USB drive, and feeding it to the printer.

"It's a whole other process," he said.

He hasn't touched the Glowforge yet. The 3D printers have his full attention.

Corbin plans to study computer science in college. He's still researching schools — no short list yet — but he's clear about two things. First, he's going somewhere good.

"That's not gonna happen," he said when the interviewer suggested he might settle for an easy path. "I'm gonna go to a good school."

Second, the reason isn't abstract.

"Hopefully make enough money to help out my family and stuff," he said.

A fifteen-year-old who wants to study computer science so he can take care of his family. That's the motivation underneath all the TinkerCAD and slicing software.

When the conversation turned to AI replacing programming jobs, Corbin wasn't fazed.

"Even though AI can generate code," he said, "it doesn't do it very well."

He acknowledged the caveat — companies with massive resources are using AI to cut staff. "Sadly, though," he said. But he's not scared off. The programs he's working on are getting bigger. He's comfortable with scale.

Kasey and Corbin represent the two tracks the STEAM Lab was built to serve. One is a hands-on tradesman who tinkers with the equipment because he can't help himself. The other is a digital-first builder who sees the lab as a launchpad toward something much larger. Neither needs to be the other. Both are learning things they wouldn't have encountered without this room.

During the conversation, the topic drifted toward 3D-printed concrete houses and a Pinckneyville High School graduate now helping manufacture rocket components using industrial-scale 3D printing.

"That's very cool," Corbin said.

It is. And a year ago, neither of these students would have had the context to understand why. Now they do — because somebody put printers, software, and a laser cutter in a room and let them walk in.

When asked if he'd like to stay in Southern Illinois, Corbin was honest.

"Preferably not," he said. "But anything could happen."

Anything could. A kid who fixes printers he was never assigned to touch. A kid who wants to write code until the programs get big. Both headed somewhere else. Both starting here.