Garrett Pagon. Founder and Game Designer.

Why did you join 10X Academy?

I’ve got 5 boys, and they were all bored with most aspects of school that didn’t involve sports, competitions, or math. The tech industry taught me that creativity, problem solving, and teamwork matter much more than pedigree. Make learning fun and do it on a team, and then you can teach boys real skills and character that will serve them better than any letter grade ever will.

How were you called to serve at 10X?

A friend and I were thinking about starting an outdoors, tech toys, and anything racing club for men since golf is boring for us. Then I started tutoring some boys and the 10X robotics club was born. We’d take breaks between builds with paintball and burger cooking competitions. Christians are called to use their gifts to serve others and so God pretty much told me it would be more fun and challenging to do this.

What’s your background in education?

I was a student once. Got a degree in biology from Stanford that I haven’t used. But fell in love with learning tech and started a couple software and engineering companies with a lifelong friend (OGSystems and GeoSpark). I learned about satellites, major systems development, drones, and data aggregation and analytics. I’m still involved on boards and investment committees in tech, but have come to the conclusion that it’s really learning new things that I was built for.

Something personal.

I’m married to an incredible woman of 24 years and have a kid out of college already. After getting out of the Air Force, I thought for a minute that I would be a professional poker player, but got bounced from the WSOP on the first day in 2004. I love the outdoors, historical novels, playing any board game (Catan and Axis and Allies are favorites), and will not be beaten in ping pong.