Dennis Scott:
I’d been a builder in Gainesville, Florida with my own construction company, and 21 years ago, I got started offering technology education to kids through a summer camp. I taught kids to use simple blueprints and tools to get hands-on experience of building, something that went way beyond Legos.
Kids were reading plans, cutting and sawing and creating working models, even assembling motors, pulley-systems and pneumatics – learning basic principles of science and engineering. I knew once I retired I wouldn’t have access to the school space I’d used for these programs. I thought it all might just end.
Then one day, I was sitting at a Whole Foods restaurant, next to a man and we began a conversation. “You should do something with that program of yours. Make it available to a larger audience? Find a way to get this into the hands of kids at home or in the classroom?” My wife Baila and I began thinking seriously about this as a business.
Baila Scott:
I knew that if we didn’t act fast, we’d lose motivation and energy. I retired a little early from my teaching career so that we could do this. We stepped out of careers where we were experts for 20 years and moved into the unknown, forming a business called Hands 4 Building. I brought the expertise in curriculum development we needed. Over time, I’ve taken so many roles: teacher, designer, bookkeeper, mailer. Our two sons wanted to help. Our oldest in Seattle is an engineer with a newly-minted MBA. Our youngest in Denver does web development, a key skill we lack.
Dennis Scott:
When Baila first brought up the idea of moving to a city with our new business, it shook my foundation: not something I wanted to do. We bought a 570-square foot condo in Portland, Oregon. Now, we remember our old house and think, “What did we need all that space for?”
The results are coming stronger all the time. We have three curriculums to meet the needs for classes from kindergarten through high school. We developed it all after getting pushed by teachers we met at conferences who said, “We want this too!” New possibilities open every day.
Baila Scott:
And why not? There’s a huge hole in education. So much is screen-based. Kids don’t even touch real materials any more. We’re taking something that’s a huge part of our lives and sharing it with kids around the world.
Many retired people we know confess they are quite bored with their lives. We are not. We are growing constantly with a project we believe in and feel passionate about.