The standard bathroom pass has seen better days.

The passes used to be in less than great conditions, being crumpled, torn, ripped from the keychain loop often stolen. Or that is how it used to be before junior Jaxzen Perez had an idea. If he could take this idea and turn it into something better than anything the school had seen before.

He quickly went to the school Principal and showed him the product that would then solve the issue of the passes. Perez’s business did not start off in a boardroom, but with a Christmas present.

“I’ve always been in the engineering realm in my head,” Perez said. “I got a cheap, crappy printer for Christmas—it cost about $150—and I just kept going with it. I got addicted.”

Perez presented a proposal to the Akins principal last year to make 3D printed bathroom passes  made from hardened PLA plastic—a material chosen for its perfect balance of strength and cost—and the partnership was born.

“The first really major thing is whenever I first reached out to Akins, to the hall passes, that was probably the first thing where it gave me a really good payout, and that kind of jump started my business to be more noticeable,” Perez said.

He said the business has grown beyond Akins and now he makes passes for many other schools.

“I work with schools all over. I do Austin, Lockhart ISD. Those are the two actual ISDs. But then I do Lockhart and Pride Middle School, Lockhart Middle School.”

While Perez is operating by himself, he is not necessarily alone on his path. He found a mentor in teacher Keith Terry, who is a former businessman himself who helps Perez by giving him advice coming from his experience in the real world. Perez said that Terry’s role is more about giving him a guiding hand making sure that he’s on the right path.

“He’s a mentor I can go to and ask, ‘Am I doing this right?’ He’s always there to give me a second opinion that I can trust,” he said.

Terry’s transition from the business world to a public school classroom has given him opportunities to find student talent that goes beyond simple good grades and attendance. When Terry first saw Jaxzen’s equipment and business, he quickly realized that this was more then just a hobby but the early steps of a real entrepreneur, Terry said.

“Jaxson’s 3D idea fits a need, which is the key to any new business,” he said. “It helps it become Successful.  My role was as an advisor; I provided technical advice and some guidance.”

Jaxzen3D’s work and projects extend far outside of just doing business with the school. Perez said he works with engineering firms such as DCI Engineers to create modes of building, providing hundreds of props for the Bat City Scaregrounds.

“It’s about a $2,000 order, and still going up in price,” he said. “They ordered a giant movie prop. It’s about six and a half feet tall. It’s the largest one I’ve done, second largest being six feet.”

The future is looking good for Perez as he grows closer to his 18th birthday. This will allow him to move on from word-of-mouth business but finally be able to sell on major platforms such as Amazon and Etsy without the large and meticulous workarounds. Whether he its a small $2 pass or a custom $80 hubcap that would’ve cost a thousand dollars at a dealership, his business is focused on the idea of solving people’s problems in a unique way.