J.R. or Mx. Rich (pronounced “mix”) to their students, has 8+ years teaching Maker, S.T.E.A.M., and New Media education. They’ve been in Makerspace environments since they were two years old and have been excited to watch the maker movement grow over the last three decades.

After a previous career as a creative director in the music industry working on music videos, set designs, and other visuals related to music releases, they began teaching new media and fabrication topics to K-12 students at the Children’s Museum of the Arts – NY (CMANY) while taking classes at NYU’s Inter-Telecommunications Program. They worked in over 15 different schools in New York City through CMANY, teaching subjects like woodworking, computer programming, electronics, animation, sculpture, and more. They started at Geffen Academy in 2019 as an educator and have been the main organizer and educator in Geffen Academy’s Makerspace since 2022. They are especially interested in bringing reuse materials and accessibility into the makerspace so that everyone has an opportunity to learn how to build with the materials all around them.