About Us
Niecy & Micah
Inventing Nerding
NERDING was invented in the AZ valley in 2014 as a way to fill the need for access to high-quality after-school and summer S.T.E.M. programs taught by amazing teachers who know how to engage knowledge-hungry little nerds! A former classroom teacher, Niecy develops exciting, standards-aligned curriculum that makes learning SO FUN!. She also trains and works closely with our staff of amazing teachers. Micah handles the backstage duties such as building this website, company branding, graphic design, and all the “boring” business stuff – as Niecy likes to say.
Nerding classes expose “nerds of the future” to a variety of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Making. Our classes are where nerds might discover a new found passion. Maybe your nerd is a future mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, 3 dimensional designer, scientist, graphic designer, programmer, or is an all-around creative. What kind of Nerd are you?
Timeline
The launch of the concept!
Our first (adorably humble) summer. We kept it small and simple, holding classes at our house in Chandler.
- 4 class topics
- 1 teacher (Niecy)
Expanded our space.
We needed more space, and began using the great community room at Children’s Dental Village.
- 10 class topics
- 1 teacher (Niecy)
Added After School Classes
Created more summer classes. The next school year we began Nerding as an after school program in Kyrene.
12 class topics
1 teacher (Niecy)
Hired another teacher!
Expanded summer age groups to 2nd-3rd grades by hiring Mrs. Kiefer, and rented a small commercial space with 2 classrooms.
Grades 2-3 & 4-7
16 class topics
2 teachers
Huge changes!
The start of a new chapter. We rented the entire Desert Sun Campus in Chandler. Now 5 classrooms and expanded to grades K-1st!
K-1, 2-3, 4-7 Grade Levels
20+ class topics
13 teachers
More Teachers, More Classes!
We rented the entire Desert Sun Campus in Chandler, again, adding more teachers and more classes!
30 class topics
20 teachers
Expanded to two locations! Wait...
Eduprize in Gilbert was to become our 2nd summer location, but a virus had another plan for the world.
The plan was…
2 Locations
30+ class topics
over 30 teachers!
…What’s that? Summer’s cancelled?! The Pandemic hit so we pivoted to online classes. We teach kids to be resourceful, creative, curious, and to have grit! Well, here’s our opportunity to practice what we preach! Pivoting an entire business model in a matter of 1 month put us to the test. We worked long and slept short to figured out how to save summer!
* We became Zoom experts
* Trained our teachers how to successfully teach online
* Micah Built a NEW Learning Management System Website to support this NEW version of Nerding
* Niecy and our other awesome teachers designed 13 NEW classes that were suited to online learning
* We kept classes to small groups of no more than 8 nerds per class for 50min each day, Mon-Fri.
*Designed engaging building projects that used materials from around the house so parents didn’t have to buy anything online.
* Learning was a ficus but during a crisis like this we also emphasized having fun and keeping kids connected while stuck at home.
Summer was still a blast and kids and parents raved about the online classes! Kids built amazing things, learned all kinds of new skills, met new friends, and stayed connected. Whew, we not only made it through but we kind of saved summer!
Back In-Person!
Wow, that was much needed semi-normalcy. Getting the kiddos back in-person for some fun awesome STEM classes, and keeping them safe and healthy was our goal, and we did it! We took all the precautions, wearing masks, classes at half capacity, only essential staff and kids in the building, wiping down sufaces, washing hands. All of it paid off! Not a single COVID case all summer!
Back on track!
We are coming back to Eduprize location in Gilbert for 5 weeks. Class sizes are back to normal and we are hiring all our awesome teachers and staff again. Can’t wait to see the kiddos.
Nerdin' with all the fixin's
Feels like Nerding again! We were able to bring back the Nerd Showcase Fridays. 2019 was the last Summer we were able to invite friends and families inside the classrooms for presentations and see what the nerds have been doing all week. Everyone missed this fun filled event. Notable additions, Lobby slideshow and large step and repeat photo backdrop! Again we were at the awesome Eduprize campus in our usual Building 4 on Baseline/Stapely.
Registration Open! Starts June 3
We are excited to back at Eduprize campus for another 5 weeks of awesome summer classes. Learn more about our summer classes here.