Kris Swanson loves to make things. Growing up in Palm Beach County, Kris was constantly building with LEGOs, making model airplanes, cars, and spacecraft, and learning from the endless supply of wood, nails, screws, and instruction supplied by his father.

After college, Kris was hired by Poinciana Elementary STEM Magnet School to manage building of a one-of-a-kind Planetarium Classroom, merging 1960’s parts with newer technology. He has taught astronomy there for more than 10 years, and in addition has been an elementary science lab teacher, 5th grade classroom teacher, and district technology specialist. Kris has served as an educational fellow to several NASA missions, and has even flown alongside a classroom experiment in 0g on NASA’s “Vomit Comet.”

One constant in Kris’ career has been the goal of working with kids to use old and new technologies to create wonderful things – from underwater robots, to videos and animations, student created video games, and even art projects. Kris’ dream is to start YML as “… a place that can develop kids’ creative and technical abilities.” Kris believes that with the right instruction, tools, and time, kids can amaze themselves, their families, and their friends with the amazing things they make.