Meet Maggie Grout of Thinking Huts in Boulder

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maggie Grout.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Maggie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I founded Thinking Huts in 2015 as a sophomore in high school with the vision of building 3D printed schools to close the global opportunity gap through innovation. The technology had not developed far enough at the time, so I pivoted to create a project called Think Boxes, where we sent over 200 educational care packages to orphanages in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

Recently 3D printing has accelerated in the construction industry and I am excited to share that we are planning to launch our pilot project to build the first 3D printed school in partnership with a local nonprofit in Southeastern Madagascar, SEED, and our technology partner, Hyperion. We are raising awareness and fundraising throughout this year with plans to build the summer of next year. We are hosting our first virtual gala on August 2 to announce our project to the world, which has been in development for over two years.

I am largely influenced by my origins of being adopted from China. I know that my life could have turned out a lot differently and I have a brighter future because of my parents. They gave me a chance to attain a brighter future through education and I hope to increase opportunities for children like me who were born into underprivileged situations.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a rollercoaster, to say the least. As a young, female founder, it has been discouraging at times in the male-dominated tech industry. Pitching my idea to people who did not take me seriously due to my age or the fact that I do not have a male cofounder was frustrating. Explaining the process of 3D construction printing has also been a challenge as many people have not encountered it before and humorously have a hard time visualizing how a building can be “printed.”

Thinking Huts – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Thinking Huts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit on a mission to increase global access to education. I am the founder/CEO and specialize in the overall vision as well as the management of the company. I am known as the one who brings all the partners and the team together as we plan out the logistics of the pilot project. I am most proud of being a solo founder and building a team from the ground up that is volunteer-based. I’ve built Thinking Huts over the past five years with the determination that my idea would be achieved and it’s humbling to see it coming to fruition. We will be the first to 3D print a school. What sets us apart is that we operate on the values of humanitarian-driven tech. We use technology to tackle the root of many problems that the world faces today by supporting education.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I pitched Thinking Huts at Twitter’s HQ in Boulder.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thinkinghuts.org/
• Email: press@thinkinghuts.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkinghuts/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thinkhuts
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/thinkinghuts

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