Fab Labs Grant Helps Belleville Schools Build a Future in Its Own Backyard
From out-of-date to cutting-edge
BELLEVILLE, WI. APRIL 30, 2026 – In Belleville, Wisconsin, a rural community of about 2,500 people, the school’s engineering lab once held machines so old and slow that students barely bothered with them. Enrollment in design courses was thin. Student interest was thinner.
Then came the Fab Labs grants. And everything changed.
“There’s been a huge switch,” said Nicholas Berthelon, the district’s 8–12 technology education teacher and fab lab director. “A majority of students were not interested at all in 3D printing and 3D modeling. And now, since having that updated and much better and faster technology, there’s been quite a few more students who see that they can do some really cool things.”
On Thursday, WEDC Secretary and CEO John W. Miller visited Belleville to announce that the district is one of 11 school districts this year that will receive a total of $250,000 in Fab Labs Grants to continue efforts to revolutionize classrooms into fabrication laboratories (fab labs). These hands-on learning environments have become the cornerstones of STEAM education across the state. Gov. Tony Evers also proclaimed Thursday as Fab Lab Day in Wisconsin.
Today’s announcement marks the fourth time Belleville has received a Fab Labs grant since the program was established. School districts receiving Fab Labs Grants this year include:
- School District of Beloit – $25,000
- Colby School District – $25,000
- Rio Community School District – $25,000
- School District of Arcadia – $25,000
- St. Francis School District – $25,000
- Alma School District – $25,000
- Kewaunee School District – $25,000
- Fall River School District – $25,000
- Whitnall School District – $20,690
- School District of Belleville – $17,600
- Lake Mills Area School District – $11,710
A fab lab is a high-technology workshop equipped with computer-controlled manufacturing components such as 3D printers, laser engravers, computer numerical control (CNC) routers, and plasma cutters. Through the Fab Labs Grant program, WEDC supports the purchase of fab lab equipment for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) educational purposes for students of all grade levels.
“Wisconsin’s fab labs are more than classrooms; they are pipelines to our state’s workforce,” Secretary Miller said. “When we invest in giving students hands-on experience with the tools and technologies that drive our economy, we are investing in the future of Wisconsin’s businesses and communities.”
Since the program began in 2016, WEDC has awarded more than $5.7 million in grants to 136 school districts to create classroom education that meets industry needs and trains Wisconsin’s next generation of skilled workers.
During his visit, Secretary Miller learned from Belleville students and school leaders what happens when that investment takes root and a district embraces the fab lab curriculum.
Belleville has made integrating their Fab Lab districtwide a major priority. From kindergarten through twelfth grade, elementary students will engage in hands-on STEAM exploration through ten LEGO Education SPIKE Essential Sets, while middle and high schoolers will utilize AI-integrated robotics kits, advanced 3D printers, and injection molding equipment, creating a seamless pipeline of innovation for students.
This year’s $17,600 grant will allow Belleville to continue building out the high school’s manufacturing capabilities.
Belleville High School currently has state-of-the art 3D printers, injection molding equipment, vinyl cutters, heat presses, laser engravers, and screen-printing tools all thanks to the Fab Labs Grants, according Berthelon, the driving force behind each of the district’s fab lab grants. He adds that a student-run business class called Wildcat Manufacturing puts all of it to work, producing custom T-shirts, wooden cribbage boards, euchre boards, and aluminum trailer hitch covers stamped with personalized logos.
For Meera Allen, a high school junior, the fab lab wasn’t what she expected. She signed up because she liked art. What she found sparked new interests in manufacturing that she didn’t know before.
“I liked doing art, so that first got me into it,” she said. “And then once I started doing it, I loved being in the shop and working with my hands and doing all of this other stuff.”
Allen has since designed her own sign project from scratch and helped produce shirts for Wildcat Manufacturing, work she’d never imagined doing before walking into Berthelon’s class.
The experience has reshaped what she thinks comes next.
“I’m thinking about going into the trades and working with some of the equipment that the fab lab have provided to us,” she said. Before the fab lab, she had never touched any of it.
Ari Mehta, a senior, came in from a different direction. He had been tinkering with electronics and engineering projects at home for years. The fab lab was the next step, and it gave him something he couldn’t access at home.
“Having access to great equipment is super helpful,” Mehta said. “I had a small, old 3D printer at home. So, it’s been a great experience learning how to use different machines, different software, stuff that I don’t have access to at home.”
His most memorable project: machining an old piece of brass into a sculpture on the CNC mill. The fab lab didn’t change his direction; he always knew he wanted to go into engineering — but it cemented it. “It really has solidified that I want to go into engineering,” he said.
The latest grant also brought something less expected to the shop floor: artificial intelligence (AI).
ChatGPT and similar tools are blocked on student computers in Belleville, but AI is entering the curriculum through VEX robotics kits equipped with vision sensors and integrated cameras. Students will then program the robots to perform image detection and recognition. Berthelon’s approach is deliberate: Students learn to build and operate robots without AI first. Only once they understand the fundamentals does he introduce what technology can add.
The program reaches well beyond high school. The district’s 525 students in kindergarten through sixth grade cycle through the Discovery Class, a required elective that functions like a traditional shop class rebuilt for the modern era, complete with laser engravers, 3D printers, and robotics equipment. At the middle and high school level, roughly 100 to 120 students engage with the fab lab each year, a number that has grown steadily as word spreads.
The district has also partnered with local engineering firms and manufacturers to keep its curriculum aligned with what industry actually uses.
Community education classes are also in development. These classes will be open to parents, neighbors, and local residents for a small fee. Ideas in the works include a T-shirt making class where participants design graphics, cut vinyl, and press a finished shirt in a single afternoon, and a laser engraving session where everyone leaves with a custom wooden lantern they made themselves.
“School districts tend to be the center of the community,” Berthelon said. “If the community doesn’t know what’s happening in here and doesn’t know about the cool things the kids are getting access to, then that’s doing a disservice to the community that’s supporting us.”
Perhaps the most lasting impact of the fab lab isn’t any single piece of equipment. It’s the shift in what students believe is possible for their careers after they graduate.
“Kids who were against the engineering side of things are now realizing maybe I could be a mechanical engineer, a CNC mill operator or work in cabinet installation,” Berthelon said. “I try to show them there’s so many more opportunities out there. It’s just expanding their world view.”
Through the WEDC’s Fab Lab grant program, Belleville has built the kind of learning environment that continues to inspire students every day who come through the fab lab. Students now know there are dozens of versions of what that path can look like — and some of them start with a 3D printer, a robotics kit, and a little bit of code.
“We’re extremely supportive of it,” Berthelon said. “Especially being in a more rural community, there’s quite a few students that post-high school are going to be going into some sort of trades or STEAM-related fields.”
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
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