Meet the STEM Educators: Will Schar
Pronouns:
He/him
How long have you been working with The Works Museum?
6 years
What is your background in engineering?
I attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design where I graduated with a degree in Comic Arts. Since then I have taught in the Public Schools as a Special Ed Paraprofessional, and many STEM education institutions such as The Science Museum of Minnesota.
What do you love most about working with kids?
Kids have really interesting relationships with limits. They always think their abilities are limited but they always see endless possibilities. I love guiding them to bring the self image of their ability and skill closer to what they can imagine being possible.
What’s your favorite activity or project to lead during summer camp?
I really love LEGO Chain Reactions camp, the Epic Engineering Fails camp, and building houses with our campers.
Can you share a fun or memorable moment from past summer camps?
My favorite memory is from Ahoy! Engineers, a pirate treasure themed engineering camp. One camper was really jazzed about building boats. The Titanic was one of his favorite topics. But that project wasn't until the last day.
In this camp they made model pirates, and then built model machines and projects fit to their size. As soon as he made a character, he fell in love with the premise of the rest of the camp.
He was so excited to keep all his projects and load them all onto the boat to see if it floated and wouldn't you know, his boat floated better than anyone else's. He also built a mast with some paper and it crossed the whole end of the tub. He was so thankful and proud.
What’s one thing you hope campers take away from their time at camp?
I hope they have fun! I hope they come away with a sense of accomplishment because they built something strange and beautiful with their own two hands, and maybe left with a bit more confidence in themself.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I run and play in multiple Dungeons and Dragons games, playing pretend, exploring mechanics, and even fabricating battle maps out of cardboard sometimes. I draw and make art. I volunteer as art director for a local Sci-fi convention.
What’s a fun fact about you?
I lived in Madagascar as a kid. Yes, I have seen and fed lemurs and one even jumped up on my shoulder to eat a banana out of my hand.
Why is LEGO Chain Reactions Your Favorite Camp:
Out of all the STEM camps I’ve taught over the years, LEGO Chain Reactions is hands-down my favorite. There’s just something special about the way this camp blends creativity, hands-on engineering, and pure fun. It’s also super kid-driven.
What I love most is that campers get to set their own challenges.They dream up their own chain reaction machines using elements like dominoes, levers, pulleys, spinners, and launchers. Every project is different, because every camper brings their own ideas to the table. I’m constantly impressed by how inventive they are.
But it’s not just about building. The collaboration in this camp is awesome. Campers share ideas, troubleshoot together, and push each other to improve their designs. I get to see real teamwork in action, and it’s incredibly rewarding to watch kids grow as both engineers and communicators.
Some even go a step further and build stories into their machines. One of my favorite memories is when two teams worked side by side to create an aircraft carrier, complete with a narrative that played out as the machine ran. It was creative, complex, and so much fun to see in action.
At the end of the day, LEGO is a medium that kids already love, and when you give them the freedom to invent, amazing things happen. That’s why this camp means so much to me. It’s where kids shine, ideas flow freely, and critical thinking feels like play.
If your child loves building, problem-solving, or just wants to try something wildly creative, I can’t recommend LEGO Chain Reactions enough.
