Stanley Black & Decker/DeWalt and Ring’s End Equip The Country School’s New Student Makerspaces & Engineering Facility

Country School proudly announces a significant partnership with Stanley Black & Decker/DeWalt, with the support of Ring’s End, to equip the school’s new Student Makerspaces & Engineering Facility with professional-grade tools for student learning.

Both Stanley Black & Decker/DeWalt and Ring’s End are Connecticut-based companies with deep roots in craftsmanship, innovation, and community. Their generosity ensures that PreSchool through 8th Grade students at Country School will have daily opportunities to learn by doing, using real tools to solve real problems in a setting that values curiosity, perseverance, and collaboration.

The student makerspaces are designed to help Country School students and summer students from throughout Connecticut develop not only technical skills, but also the habits of mind and character that come from working with head, hands, and heart. Through building projects, design challenges, and creative exploration, students learn how to work through frustration, collaborate with peers, think critically, and take pride in work well done.

“This partnership is about much more than tools,” said John Fixx, Head of School. “It is about honoring the dignity of hard, creative work and helping students understand that making, building, repairing, and creating are essential human endeavors. Stanley Black & Decker/DeWalt and Ring’s End are helping us prepare young people not only for school, but for life. This is exactly the kind of partnership schools hope for.”

Ring’s End has been instrumental in the assembling of the new structure, suppling this landmark learning facility with first-quality products including roof trussses; wood studs; floor joists; floor, wall and roof sheathing; connection hardware; and siding materials. 

For years, Country School has been a educational pioneer by recognizing the importance of the Arts and putting the A in STEAM. In this new space, teachers continue to integrate science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math, ensuring that PreSchool through 8th Grade students see the connections among creativity, problem-solving, and real-world impact. 

The dedicated space, the only one of its kind in the United States, has the campus engineers in the same structure as student engineers. This new space will strengthen the school’s Signature STEAM Program that helps children learn how to problem-solve and persevere, collaborate and communicate, experience frustration and push through it, and feel the joy of true Eureka! moments.

By investing in this space, Stanley Black & Decker/DeWalt and Ring’s End are helping to shape the next generation of people who will work with their hands and hearts and those who will deeply respect the skill, care, and contribution of those who do.