Retired Air Force Captain Brings 'Bricks 4 Kidz' to the Promenade

Texas native and former Air Force captain Neil Schroder, 35, has seven reasons for opening a "Bricks 4 Kidz" franchise in the Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley:

Olivia, Raegan, Tyler, Analiese, Cadon, Asher and every other kid in the Lehigh Valley.

Schroder and wife, Courtney, also a retired Air Force captain, are raising six children and home schooling them from their house in Allentown. Any educational diversion is a good thing, and that’s where LEGO bricks come in.

Schroder was so impressed with the "Bricks 4 Kidz" program that he resigned from his job at Lutron Electronics in Upper Saucon Township and in early July opened the first franchise in Pennsylvania.

He is owner and president of the local franchise, which offers summer camps, field trips, birthday parties, preschool classes and after-school programs.

Q: How does you military background fit in?

Schroder: It helps with dedication, discipline, focus. I was a nuclear launch officer in Montana. That means I was 12 stories underground in a big concrete pill with a bunch of launch codes. I was waiting for the president to say, “Get those Suckers! Let them fly.” My wife and I both did that for four years.

Q; How did you end up in the Lehigh Valley?

Schroder: We found the Lehigh Valley as I was looking for a job and getting out of the military. I knew nothing about this area. I’m from the West Coast. Lutron Electronics hired me. They said I should come out to Coopersburg, and I said “Where’s that?”

It's a lot different from Montana. We came out here with no friends, no family but we have learned to love it. We’ve been here eight years now.

Q: Why didn’t you stay with Lutron?

Schroder: A year ago we started looking hard for some companies that we could get into franchising.. It’s been a crazy ride. I just recently quit my job and jumped into this full time.

I wanted to spend more time with my family. I was traveling all the time. Even the weekends I was working.
I was tired of working for somebody. I wanted to be my own boss. We prayed about it and felt that was what God was telling us to do.

Q: Educational studies have shown that American children have rapidly fallen behind much of the world for math and science scores. Do you see programs such as 'Bricks 4 Kidz' improving on that?

Schroder: President Obama has put out policies to improve technology, engineering and math. Those are deficiencies that we have in elementary schools. We encourage curiosity about these things. We were once a nation that pushed the envelope on all sorts of technology. We have come off it quite a bit.

Q: What is a typical class like?

Schroder: Well, summer campers can sign up now. The class ages go from 5 to 7, up to 12-13.

For the first 20 minutes we let them play.  We have a million different LEGOs here. A lot of the kids have experience with LEGOs, so they start building a space ship. With the boys it’s typical. They build space ships, race cars and things that shoot. Girls will build a house with a garden.

Then we take them and do a structured model. Today, we built a centrifuge. This week we’re doing a space theme and what astronauts have to go through as far as training. That takes 35-45 minutes.

Then as the groups finish up they get to play with that model. We give them a little LEGO minifigure that they can play with and have some excitement. Often they want to take the model and expand on it.

Kids want to make them longer and see how fast they can make them spin. Then we‘ll give them a little more free play time and some games.  Then we’ll do another model …and free time. It’s a three-hour class.

Q: Why was this franchise attractive?

Schroder: 'Bricks 4 Kidz' was founded by Michelle Cote, a former architect who came in after his son’s classes were over and did a one-hour LEGO class.

It packed out like that. She realized she had something.

It’s based in St. Augustine, Fla., and we’re one of only 30 franchises. No one else is doing it. It fit the things I care about such as education, science and technology. And LEGOs are fun!