Teachers at Old Rochester Regional Junior High School are teaming up to bring a new after school program to students.

The program is called Maker Space, and its main goal is to get kids working with their hands, technology teacher Scott McElroy said.

McElroy held his first session on Oct. 20. His section of the Maker Space program focuses on computer-assisted design, a class he teaches at the junior high already.

Five students stayed for an extra hour after school for the program. Three of the students, Cooper Newton, Cole Dennison and Evan Smith are in eighth grade and took McElroy’s CAD class last year. The other two students are McElroy’s sons, seventh graders Lucas and Ethan, who are currently taking the CAD class with their dad.

McElroy is impressed by the students who choose to stay after school to do work like this.

“Their minds keep going until they solve it,” McElroy said. “The bell rings in class and they’re mad. They ask if they can stay or if they can come back later to finish it.”

Newton said that computer design work comes easily to him, and that he’s always been interested in engineering and hopes to pursue it as a career someday.

“I know how to solve problems using the tools [McElroy] teaches us,” he said. “I’ve always thought being an aerospace engineer looks really cool.”

There will be two other sections to the Maker Space program. The first is an arts and crafts section that will be coordinated by Dr. Carol Hermann. The second will allow students to deconstruct electronic devices with teacher Sue Wheeler to learn more about them.

The three sections will run simultaneously on Thursday afternoons. McElroy started his program a week early, and the other two will begin on Oct. 27.