Sandbox

The Mecca for creativity at UC Berkeley.

My story with this class is crazy. Freshman year I spent a lot of time in the woodshop. One day, looking for materials in the basement, I stumbled into a room with a homeless guy frolicking in front of a camera, students soldering wires together, and somehow a look of cohesion and pride on the teacher’s face.

“Welcome to Sandbox,” one of the teachers, Dylan, said, who would later become my housemate, business partner, and one of my best friends.

Next semester, I joined the board as a teacher as well.

We teamed up with other cool Berkeley students to facilitate the class with us. I invited Lukie and Sofia, who were running the largest fashion brand on campus at the time.

From there we led two semesters of incredible classes. Sandbox served as a 2-hour period every week where people can just come and build. We had two rules:

1. Build cool shit 2. No brainrot

The goal was to be present, and use your hands to create something. We provided laser cutters, sewing machines, software development workshops, woodworking equipment, and more. We also had live music! Here are some highlights that came out of the class:

1. A wedding ring box Garrett made with wood from his ranch, which he used to propose to his girlfriend (now fiancé!). Video above 2. A remote controlled beer cannon built by Q which can launch beer into his mouth upon command 3. Custom crochet Berkeley merch for game days! 4. Many, many more :)