Overview
Ascendly is a social enterprise dedicated to teaching kids, at an early age, about how things work. We use cool kits and projects to help elementary school aged kids to gain both the confidence and the competence to build great things.
While we have started small, our vision is to build a program that…
- Is based on a curriculum that is age appropriate, engaging, and full of learning opportunities
- Is available to kids from K-6 grades
- Is built off a scalable platform that will enable us to reach kids across the country, including students in the inner city and rural areas
We know – it sounds ambitious. But we are passionate about building an organization that will encourage kids to pursue science and engineering as they grow up.
Sound interesting? For more information, read our blog and check out our website.
A Short History
Started in 2009 by JJ Rohrer, Ascendly began life as a simple PTA sponsored LEGO club, putting together LEGO education kits, but soon morphed into an after-school engineering program. Ascendly aspires to create a scalable engineering program to reach worldwide. The courses and their respective procedures were designed based on firsthand experience teaching the course in several Fairfax County schools, all the while re-engineering the courses themselves for repeatability, efficacy, scalability, and enjoyability.
The Team
Lori Pereira
Lori raised to regional prominence by providing Ascendly classes, via Starbright Enrichment, to the greater DC area, reaching more than 75 schools and providing more than 400 classes to thousands of elementary students. Lori enjoys intimate familiarity with the needs of schools, PTOs, and home-school groups throughout DC, VA, MD, & PA. When not organizing STEM classes, she spends time with her two children and two new puppies.
JJ Rohrer
JJ started as Ascendly’s primary teacher and course developer. He brings a broad engineering background from his US Air Force Academy training and his MS in Computer Systems. After the Air Force, JJ performed simulation and process consulting, as well as being involved in several start-ups and small businesses. While part of a pilot Carnegie-Mellon acquisition auditing team, his team was specifically referenced by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board as a model for NASA to emulate. When not testing his teaching techniques on his children, JJ enjoys developing apps for the iPhone. JJ has an MBA from Harvard Business School.