When Jeff Schaefer saw that there was a job opening at St. Louis U. High for the new position of Innovation Lab Director late last school year, he hoped he would get the job and find his new home at SLUH.

“From the first time I pulled on to campus, (SLUH) felt welcoming to me,” said Schaefer. “I don’t feel like an outsider at this point. Everyone is excited about what I have done and what I can do, and the fact that the students are excited to learn makes it the full package.”

Schaefer already has lots of ideas and an array of experience to bring the Innovation Lab to life.

Having most recently worked as a theater production manager at Chaminade, crafting sets and bringing design ideas to life, Schaefer is ready to take on a new challenge at SLUH and work with the school’s growing technological resources to help students grow creative entrepreneurial ideas with some of the best equipment any high school in the country can offer.

“(The Innovation Lab) could turn into a facility that a young entrepreneur could design and prototype a product that they could get to market before they even graduate,” said Schaefer. “The possibilities are there.”

Outside of his day job, Schaefer has another hobby that goes hand in hand with his work in design and construction and gives him experience that many other qualified candidates would not have. Schaefer owns a small business, The Reapercussionist, where he builds drums from scratch and sells them to musicians and companies.

“I do all of the woodwork and all of the metalwork in my house to basically make it be whatever I want it to be,” said Schaefer.

Originally a music major and former public school music teacher, Schaefer has deep roots in music and loves his craft, where he gets to combine his love for raw construction with his passion for the musical arts.

“I have been a percussionist basically my whole life,” said Schaefer. “I grew up hitting things and trying to find the different tones in them and creating melodies, so it started out as just a way to entertain myself. Then, I realized, ‘Oh, this is legitimate, I can do this as a job,’ so I started studying music.”

He started his business after seeing the old, beat-up equipment in the school he taught in because he wanted to replace it and give the students a better experience. After ten years of evolving his business from reusing parts to refurbish school drums to creating drums from scratch, Schaefer’s business is now the official drum sponsor for Jazz St. Louis.

Schaefer is immensely proud of his creations and has worked hard to develop the best product he can. He hopes to turn the Innovation Lab into a space where students can do the same.

“When you realize what’s possible, it opens up a whole lot of doors,” said Schaefer. “The wheels start to turn, and you get excited. ‘Oh, I can do that thing now!’ That’s the kind of excitement we hope to build, the energy put into creating the unknown.”

To build excitement for the lab and to make students more aware of its possibilities, Schaefer wants to advance parts of the lab to entice the student body. In addition to offering an innovation course, taught by computer science teacher Dan See, Schaefer wants to make the Innovation Lab more widely used by offering a Canvas course students can complete to learn how to use the machines in the lab and hopefully become interested in using the equipment. Schaefer has already begun revamping 3D printers that were slow and dysfunctional and is attempting to bring even more new technology to SLUH.

“We are in talks with a company to buy a brand new machine which is a hybrid between a milling machine and a 3D printer,” said Schaefer. “It’s a fascinating machine. If we can get that in (the Innovation Lab), we would be the second high school in the nation to have one.”

Science teacher Mary Russo, who led the interviewing committee that hired for the position, knew that she had a special candidate in Schaefer and is excited about all of the possibilities that he brings to the future of SLUH innovation.

“You’re looking for a unicorn of a candidate for this job,” said Russo. “It had to be the right fit, and the stars aligned.”

Schaefer begins his new position with a nearly blank slate and a vision for daring production that will hopefully inspire students to follow in his entrepreneurial footsteps.

“We are in a special place here,” said Schaefer. “Once we get it open, that’s when the fun happens. The only thing holding us back is safety training.”