We (Ry Hernandez and Mabel Negrete (CNS)) are a team of two, multiracial/Indigenous-descent from Central and South America, dedicated, and talented educators who form a small teaching and consulting venture called SPARKmakers that provides hands-on minds-on STEAM education. We primarily serve underrepresented youth, grade levels 2nd-8th, from and around the neighborhood of Nicetown in Philadelphia.

Liam ((Ry)) Hernandez
STEAM Educator

Professional Profile in Linkedin

Ry is an educator, engineer, activist, and long distance hiking enthusiast. He is passionate in his work and loves to involve others to feel the same. His interest in teaching began in 2011, in his first-year Engineering 101 classes at Drexel, after personally noticing the difference of skill sets between those who hadn’t taken STEM/Programming classes in highschool and those who had.

By 2012 Ry joined the freshman engineering peer-to-peer mentorship group –  a group of mentors who helped students in the Engineering 101 classes. Between 2014-2016, he additionally assisted advanced engineering classes and created workshops for a variety of engineering outreach events. Through these experiences, Ry discovered his passion of sharing knowledge and his desire to bring STEAM access to underrepresented communities. 

By Spring 2017  Ry was invited to join the SPARKmakers team, and has been teaching with them ever since. Within SPARKmakers, Ry educates, creates new and builds upon existing projects, and brings a passion to help students never stop thinkering and exploring.

---

Mabel Negrete (CNS)
Consultant, STEAM Educator and Founder

Professional Profile in Linkedin 

I am a transdisciplinary artist, anti-prison activist, educator a.k.a. Counter Narrative Society–a research unit that initiates counter narratives about bio-power, urbanism, culture, and technology. 

My interest in the STEAM education was born in 2000 when I joined the Mission Science Workshop in San Francisco CA. At this site, I had the privilege to work with an interdisciplinary cohort of science and makers enthusiasts who come from various fields of knowledge. Our primary mission was to provide science education to a primarily immigrant and Latino Indigenous/ Indigenous Descent community. 

Moving to Philadelphia in 2012, I learned that North Philadelphia youth were also lacking access to STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art and Match) education, and after helping start The Hacktory’s After School between 2013-2014, I took the initiative to found SPARKmakers LLC and develop its STEAM Program–to serve the Black, POC, and/or Indigenous/Indigenous Descent youth who live in communities impacted by mass incarceration and poverty. 

I am also co-founder of Indigenous 215, Indigenous Peoples’ Day Philly Inc, Mobiles Futures Institute, and other related initiatives.

My work has been presented at the Free Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and other public venues. I hold a Master of Science in Art, Culture and Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.