My name is Chris Burnham, Founder of STEAM Room. I have a career in the trades as an electrician and electrical contractor, and one thing all tradesmen have in common is that we're all looking to train our replacements one day. After struggling through temporary help season after season, I realized that in addition to a lack of will the upcoming generation of leaders and workers were not being taught soft skills that are crucial in the working world. These skills include things like critical thinking, collaboration, cooperation, and creativity.

​

My wife and I also became parents to twins later in life, and like most parents we began to invest in toys for their future. My wife came home with a marble run, then K'nex, and eventually Lego all under the guise of "the kids will love this. even though I secretly was enjoying my second childhood late at night and watching them enjoy and destroy my creations in the mornings. As children grew  so did the collection until it needed to be stored in the garage where we would play together nearly weekly. It was when the neighborhood kids started building along and seemed to thrive on the exploration and my encouragements that I thought there might be more here than just toys.

​

Around the same time, I started to research other tradesmen and how they approached the issues of soft skills. What I found was alarming: if we are going to set these kids up to be successful young adults we must teach these skills as early as 4 years old. This was the motivation behind what is now called STEAM Room.

​

We believe that every child has great potential hidden inside and that we can use structure and fun to help develop that potential. STEAM Room operates out of an attitude of positive reinforcement even in failure. We are a Christian organization and those Christian values inform all that we do. We do not thrust scripture into our classes and sessions; rather we operate with a clear directive that everything that STEAM Room does must be rooted in Faith and Fun.