Meet the Team

Kirsten Moreau

FOUNDER | DATA SCIENTIST

Ken Moreau

FOUNDER | ENGINEER

Hi! I'm Kirsten Moreau, founder of The Treasure Hunt Builder.

From an early age, treasure hunts were an exciting part of my life. Growing up in the USA, my large, extended family would get together at my grandparents' farm. To keep all of us children occupied and entertained, my Mom would organize a treasure hunt with the adults taking on roles to advance the story line at each checkpoint. I know now that it was an ingenious way to tire us out, but I think the adults may have had nearly as much fun as we did! I'll never forget how the adults lit up when we made it to their stop on the trail, and how they enthusiastically threw themselves into playing their characters.

When I became a mom, I introduced my own 3 children to treasure hunts just for the fun of watching their concentration as they puzzled over each clue in search of the small treasures I had hidden around the house. But treasure hunts became a much bigger part of our family life during the pandemic. As a working mom, I was juggling home-schooling with my job as a data scientist. Setting up treasure hunts for my children gave them something fun to do between home learning sessions, allowing me to focus on the other things I needed to get done for work and around the house. It kept them engaged and motivated, and developed their natural curiosity, problem-solving, and teamwork skills, all while reinforcing their conceptual understanding of our curriculum, without feeling like more school work.

They loved them so much, that they kept asking for more and more treasure hunts. I spent hours preparing them after the children were asleep, linking them closely to our curriculum, but I quickly realized how much time this was taking and it wasn't a viable longer-term option. So, with my coding background, I built The Builder to solve my own problem. At that point, after spending so much time on it, I realized that what I had created might benefit other home-educating parents and teachers and also provide fun, educational activities for other children. The business grew from there!

(Gear system designed and 3D printed by our child for their robotic Halloween display)

Together with my spouse, Ken, we are working our way through building educational treasure hunts to cover the gamut of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) concepts. As an award-winning analyst, I have 17 years of professional experience collecting, evaluating and communicating information on complex problems, to include multiple awards for developing and teaching courses on quantitative data and tools, and for fostering an environment of continuous learning through technical mentoring and coaching. I have a Masters Degree from Johns Hopkins University in Applied Economics, which informs how I introduce students to Math and Technology concepts. Ken has 18 years of experience as an engineer specializing in material science—particularly polymers and adhesives—and manufacturing. He is well versed in manufacturing techniques, such as CNC machining, 3D printing and composite fabrication, for prototypes and low-volume production. Ken loves project-based learning, and getting our kids to practically apply what they've learned in our garage maker space. He has a B.S.E. in Plastics Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, which informs our Science and Engineering treasure hunts.

Due to work, we were posted to the UK in 2015, back to the USA in 2018 and then back to England in 2022. I also attended school in Germany myself as a child growing up in Munich. Our children have experienced the education systems in both countries, as well as being home-schooled, so we have experienced and learned from the best of all three. When our children started back at school in the UK, they were put in top sets due to their conceptual understanding of each subject. Learning through play works! #gameschooling

I love using my creative skills, my tech skills and my experience as a parent to create treasure hunts that appeal to a diverse range of interests.

Our Promise to You

Black Lives Matter

Representation Matters. Being Valued Matters.

We are dedicated to being a safe space for students to learn.
Students need to feel safe and supported to have fun, and they need to be able to have fun to absorb knowledge.

Diversity and Inclusion Resources

How We Actively Support Social Justice

A Secular Academic Resource

The Treasure Hunt Builder provides secular academic material, which does not incorporate religious philosophies in any way. Secular academic material uses empirical evidence-based information from peer reviewed research, presenting accepted facts, principles, models, and theories.

Meet the Artists

The Treasure Hunt Builder relies on talented artists and educators to design and create the amazing Adventure Artwork Themes used to create the story lines of our Treasure Hunts. It is these amazing Themes that provide "the hook" for our students, getting them excited to apply their skills to complete their quest.

Valuing and supporting our artists is incredibly important to us. As we develop The Treasure Hunt Builder by commissioning more Adventure Artwork Themes, our goal is to always prioritize the welfare of our artists--even if it means we cannot expand as quickly--and the inclusiveness of our themes.

Please consider subscribing as an Artwork Patron through Patreon if you would like to support our ability to commission more Adventure Storyline Themes in a fair, equitable and inclusive way.

Learn More About How We Support Social Justice

Representation Matters: Inclusive Artwork
Valuation Matters: Fair Pay

Become an Artwork Patron

Artist: Echaynaeva Evelina

https://www.instagram.com/chayna_eva

Echaynaeva Evelina's Adventure Themes

: Fairytale Storybook

Artist: Febri Ariyanto

https://www.fiverr.com/febriariyanto

Hi! I’m an illustrator based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. What I do is create awesome illustrations. Design is my hobby, passion, and lifestyle. I have been working for more than 5 years with so much experience. I have experience in mobile game, illustration, fanart, comic, background, animation character and other game mobile stuff.

Febri Ariyanto's Adventure Themes

: Jurassic Time Travel

Artist: Kirsten Moreau

http://www.redefining-default.com/

Kirsten Moreau is Owner and Lead Data Scientist of Redefining Default LLC. She has won multiple awards for Innovation, Integration, and econometric and methodology improvements to customer workflows, as well as for developing and teaching courses on quantitative data and tools.