Meet Our Team

Rick Brennan, Founder & CEO

Rick Brennan designs dynamic, standards-aligned ed + tech experiences and provides powerful professional development workshops that teach others to do the same.  Brennan has developed innovative, game-based curricula to support popular game titles, like SimCity, Minecraft, Gamestar Mechanic, Never Alone, and Historia. He was a keynote speaker at The Atlantic’s 10th Annual EdTech Forum in Washington DC and has presented at SXSWedu, Games4Change, FETC, AWP, and TEDxHouston.  His work was featured by the Gates Foundation and Institute of Play in the PLAYMAKERS film series.

AWARDS FOR INNOVATION

  • Microsoft: Global Hero in Education

  • Houston Arts Alliance: Jamail Innovation in Education Award Recipient

  • National Endowment for the Arts: Creativity Connects Award Recipient

  • FAST COMPANY

    “As a teacher turned designer and entrepreneur, Rick Brennan ‘knows exactly what kind of innovation is possible within a traditional public school system.’”

  • THE ATLANTIC

    “As a sixth-grade social studies teacher, Rick Brennan noticed he was getting the same questions again and again from his students. He knew what they would ask, when they would ask it, and he was bored. Brennan considered leaving the profession, but instead decided to innovate.”

  • HOUSTON CHRONICLE

    “Brennan sees his mission as helping classroom learning become fun. He points out that people have played games throughout history; it's a fundamental human trait.”

  • EDUTOPIA, RICK BRENNAN

    “Like so many others in the teaching profession, we struggled to find ways to bring history and social studies to life for our middle school students. That is, until we folded learning games into the mix.”

Our Experienced Pro Teacher Solutionists

  • Terry Apple

    18 Years Classroom Experience

  • Summer Magee

    18 Years Classroom Experience

  • Dinorah Perez

    16 Years Classroom Experience

  • Tracy Spruce

    26 Years Classroom Experience

  • Betsy Furler

    17 Years Classroom Experience

    Special Ed Cert.

  • VICTORIA MAYS, TEACHER, 10TH GRADE

    “Mrs. Apple helped me grow so much as a teacher. She helped me build new skills and strategies that allowed me to conduct successful, engaging, and productive student stations for the first time. The feedback from the students was very positive, too. I am very grateful to have learned from her.!”

  • ANDRA HARLOW, TEACHER, 10TH GRADE

    “Summer has been an amazing mentor and supporter of our students and of myself as well. I can say that I am far less stressed as a result of having her in class and I genuinely hope we can continue collaborating for years to come. “

  • HELIA FOROUZAN, TEACHER, 10TH GRADE

    “Dinorah encouraged me to apply more English immersion in my ELL classroom and showed me how to do it. She has a great energy and understanding for what is needed with a diverse ELL student population, like we have here. She helped my students overcome their fear of learning a new language and speaking English.”

  • EMMA BURCH, TEACHER, 9TH GRADE

    “Tracy is an excellent teacher and mentor. She is generous, capable, and effective. It was so reassuring know that she was there to talk through lessons, help build units, and bounce ideas off of. She was able to create some amazing resources that a classroom teacher simply wouldn't have the time to do.”

Histrionix is committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity and inclusion. 

It is the policy of Histrionix Learning Company to encourage the use of Minority and Women-owned business enterprises (M/WBE) through our Supplier Diversity Program. We believe that the utilization of a diversified supplier base is beneficial both to the communities we serve and our company’s growth. We are committed to maximizing the use of M/WBE enterprises’ whenever possible. Our primary objectives include:

  • Actively seeking businesses who are classified or certified as M/WBE

  • Conducting outreach and communication to M/WBE certified businesses

  • Supporting organizations that promote or certify M/WBE businesses