Today we’d like to introduce you to Karla Koop.
Hi Karla, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The Yin and Yang of MaKr U are Mary Jones and Karla Koop. We consider ourselves to be Learning Instigators and we are passionate about having fun while we learn. Our background is in education, Mary in B.S.K-8 General education and Karla in BFA and B.S. K-12 Art Education and MEd in Instructional Technology. After the technology bug bit us both, we met while pursuing more knowledge about integrating technology in the classroom by learning Powerpoint! We date ourselves with that one, but we soon moved on and we strive to stay on the cutting edge of educational technologies for all ages. We believe active, dynamic learning is empowering and we try to model and incorporate this in everything we do. Our beginning came with a calling to retire from public Education and do something more to excite young minds about learning. That passion became MaKr U and we were off. The bus was another remarkable find on the internet. She came from LaGrange Illinois as a former Classroom on Wheels, created by nuns to serve their community in learning English.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Most of our history involves challenges and obstacles yet we press on. Anytime you own a classic vehicle such as our 2004 Bluebird bus you have challenges. Add on a/c units to cope with Houston heat and a generator to provide enough power to be self sufficient and you have obstacles.. We would not have it any other way, however. We are passionate about taking our business to the consumer.
Besides the expense of upkeep and repair, we felt the pandemic by being out of work completely for over a year. We did not qualify for financial help as we did not have employees. We did receive one small grant and two low interest small business loans to be able to stay afloat until work returned.
Finding any location to park for a few hours to offer workshops around Houston has proven to be our biggest challenge to date and we still have that dream for the future. Sponsorships would be welcomed.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
MaKr U (Mary and Karla University) or (Mary and Karla are just like You) is an amazing makerspace on wheels. Housed inside of a 2004 BlueBird bus, what everyone experiences when they step inside is simply “WOW”! They see 70 feet of opportunity, wonder and learning. Our mobile makerspace is packed with multiple materials, mediums and tools used to create and design, everything from cardboard construction, circuitry, programming, coding and much, much more. We travel the Houston area and provide opportunities for schools, community events, birthday parties and teacher development. As far as we have discovered, there are very few concepts like ours. Makerspaces foster innovation through hands-on experimentation. Participants have the opportunity to be creative and apply personalized learning strategies to make changes to existing concepts or develop their own ideas, methods or products. Some of the tools we utilize to foster this come from Sphero, Little Bits, Ozmo, Ozobot, Airblock and Snapcircuits. We also believe in learning hacks to reinvent common items into new devices. Our focus is always on science, technologies, engineering, arts and math or STEAM education. In most cases, these spaces exist in affluent areas as coding spaces or in warehouse spaces more appropriate for adults. We put the makerspace where the client wants it and serve as the managers for the equipment and prompt the activity. Our bus, Babs, is MaKr U and our own makerspace as we have redesigned it multiple times and we will continue to improve it as we find areas that can be tweaked to improve our services.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
As we began this business, we had many family members and friends who believed in us and helped us in many ways. What we were most in need of was help with business basics. This was foreign to two teachers and we found SCORE Houston, where experts gave free advice and guidance with many of the tasks essential to beginning a new business adventure.
Pricing:
- Custom Designed Birthday Parties:$400 + supplies for party favors if included
- MaKr U Workshops: varies by topic, priced per participant
- MaKr U Drive Thru’s: $450 (collection of tools provided for self exploration
- MaKr U School Full Day Events: $1200 + supplies
- Staff Development; Team Building; Consulting
Contact Info:
- Email: karlak@makru.co
- Website: www.makru.co
- Facebook: @ Babs_Makr
- Twitter: @MaKr_U
Image Credits
Karla Koop
