About Big Sky Learning

In 1996, educator Michael Sheppard started the Big Sky Build It! summer STEM program as an offshoot of the Tortuga Tutorial Learning Center, a 501c3 providing tutoring in the Santa Fe Public Schools as well as instruction in mathematics, language arts, music, and technology at learning centers in Eldorado and downtown Santa Fe.  In 1999 Tortuga Tutorial changed its name to Big Sky Learning.  By 2010 Big Sky Learning's summer program  Build It! expanded to host STEAM camps in Santa Fe and Los Alamos, teacher training at the Santa Fe Community College, and an educational software collaboration with the Los Alamos National Laboratory to develop The Big Learning Machine.  

At its peak Build It! attracted over 600 week long student enrollments for children 5 to 14.  At age 14 students were eligible to join the Big Sky Mentor Program to become teaching mentors under the guidance of licensed teachers.  Select teen mentors worked throughout the school year to develop STEAM projects (all projects and curriculum were developed in house) and on other aspects of the growing business.  Over 800 teens served as mentors between 1996 and 2017. 

In 2017 Big Sky Learning shifted focus to provide support, kits and online instruction for other state programs.  The Santa Fe Children's Museum, The National Center for Genome Research, The Santa Fe Community College, NM Mesa, La Mariposa Montessori, and ATD Fourth World have incorporated Big Sky kits and Big Learning Machine instructions into their programs.