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121: Showcase: One Stone | Lab51 (Student-Driven Schooling)
22 Plays2 years ago
This is our third “spotlight series” episode where we’re reaching out to schools who are doing intriguing progressive practices that could inspire and influence others to do the same. Each has a twist on how their school is operated, and we’re bringing in students and teachers to talk about it. They’re not all perfect, and they’d all acknowledge there are things they’d change; but there’s so much to learn from these schools as we reimagine education in our communities.
Today we’re featuring One Stone, a student-led nonprofit in Boise, Idaho. One Stone has a variety of initiatives to help students use their voice to change the world. Two thirds of One Stone’s board are young people, who have voted to establish multiple initiatives including Project Good: an experiential service program, Two Birds: a student-led creative studio, Solution Lab: a business incubator for young people, and now Lab 51 - who we’re talking with today - an independent sliding scale tuition program high school.
Lab51 features interdisciplinary, human-centered problem solving which is a collaboration between young people and mentors. Students engage in a variety of selections including “Deep Dives”, which are two-week passion-driven endeavors like photography or wilderness survival, “Immersions”, which are slightly longer and mostly take place off campus, “Cannonballs” which have students experiencing a wide variety of topics in a short period of time, and finally: service- and project-based learning.
Joining us are four students: Ian, Reya, Lyla, and Ella and Jesse, who is the Director of Strategic Partnerships.
We talk about the fundamentals of Lab51's program, its importance to young people, and how this model could scale and be used within traditional settings.
SCHOOL
One Stone's Lab51, a student-led nonprofit High School program in Boise, Idaho, centered on students navigating their path to purpose, promoting their well-being, and self-directing their learning
RESOURCES
- One Stone
- Lab51
- BLOB (Bold Learning Objectives)
- Two Birds Creative Studio (One Stone's student-driven creative studio, you can sign up to work with them!)
- Wayfinding Mentorship Professional Growth series for educators and mentors
- Human Centered Design for supporting student-driven learning
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Acknowledgements
00:00:10
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 121 of our podcast.
00:00:14
Speaker
My name is Chris McNutt and I'm part of the progressive education nonprofit human restoration project.
00:00:19
Speaker
Before we get started, I wanted to let you know that this is brought to you by our supporters, three of whom are Sybil Prieb, Vaughn Cleary and Eric Martinson.
00:00:27
Speaker
Thank you for your ongoing support.
00:00:29
Speaker
You can learn more about us on our website human restoration project.org or find us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Focus on Progressive Schools
00:00:36
Speaker
So this is our third spotlight series where we're reaching out to schools who are doing intriguing progressive practices that could inspire and influence others to do the same.
00:00:45
Speaker
Each has their own twist on how their school is operated.
00:00:48
Speaker
And we're bringing in students, teachers, et cetera, to talk about it and what they're
Introduction to One Stone
00:00:52
Speaker
doing.
00:00:52
Speaker
Today, we're featuring OneStone and kind of an element of OneStone, which is a student-led nonprofit in Boise, Idaho.
00:01:00
Speaker
OneStone has a variety of initiatives to help students use their voice to change the world.
00:01:04
Speaker
Two thirds of OneStone's board are young people.
00:01:07
Speaker
And in fact, most of the folks that are joining us today are on the board of OneStone.
00:01:11
Speaker
who have voted to establish multiple initiatives over the years, including 2BIRD, which is a student-led creative studio, Solution Lab, a business incubator for young people, and now Lab 51, who we're talking with today, an independent sliding school tuition program, high school.
00:01:26
Speaker
Today, we have five folks joining us from One Stone and Lab 51.
00:01:29
Speaker
We have Ian, Rhea, Lila, Ella, and Jesse.
00:01:33
Speaker
Ian, Rhea, Lila, and Ella, who are all students, three of whom are on the board, and Jesse, who's the director of Strategic
One Stone's Mission and Approach
00:01:40
Speaker
Policy.
00:01:40
Speaker
partnership.
00:01:41
Speaker
So thank you all for being here today.
00:01:43
Speaker
I'm excited to get to know all of you and learn about what you all are doing.
00:01:46
Speaker
Thanks for having us.
00:01:47
Speaker
Great to be here.
00:01:48
Speaker
I'm just going to open this up to the floor.
00:01:50
Speaker
I'm just first interested to learn more about who you all are.
00:01:54
Speaker
What is the school?
00:01:55
Speaker
If you could summarize it, the elevator pitch of why Lab 50 Watt 1, why One Stone?
00:02:02
Speaker
What's different about your experience?
00:02:05
Speaker
I think that our mission really sums that up.
00:02:07
Speaker
Our mission is making students better leaders in the world a better place.
00:02:11
Speaker
And that is really at the forefront of everything we do.
00:02:15
Speaker
And it's not like we have this curriculum and these set regulations that we have to fit.
00:02:19
Speaker
And then we just kind of throw in making students better leaders in the world a better place on top of that and try to fit it into these pre-made rules.
00:02:27
Speaker
We kind of mold everything around that.
Student Experiences and Curriculum
00:02:30
Speaker
So we have something in our day or in our schedule that doesn't feel like it's accomplishing that.
00:02:35
Speaker
We'll take it out.
00:02:36
Speaker
We don't have any problem or any rules around that.
00:02:39
Speaker
It's if things, if what we're doing isn't making students better leaders in the world, a better place, we're not doing it.
00:02:45
Speaker
And I think that's what really makes One Stone.
00:02:49
Speaker
A lot of people, when I describe One Stone, they hear like no grades, no structure, like one of those like new age feel gooderies kind of thing.
00:02:58
Speaker
But it's really like it's so much more than that.
00:03:00
Speaker
Like we have like I am learning things that if I was in a more traditional school, I would not be learning.
00:03:05
Speaker
Like these are things that are going to help me for life after high school.
00:03:08
Speaker
These are things that are going to help me, you know, 20, 30, 50 years in the future.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, I think one thing that One Stone really gives students that maybe a less traditional school wouldn't is this real world toolbox that really teaches you how to like interact with maybe adults in a professional setting or community members and gives you just that involvement in the world around you.
00:03:28
Speaker
That's super special and really allows you to have this unique perspective coming out of high school and into the world beyond that.
00:03:35
Speaker
I think the easiest way to sum up one stone is to say that it can't be summed up.
00:03:40
Speaker
Agreed.
00:03:41
Speaker
All right, fair.
00:03:42
Speaker
So let's go through the concrete stuff first on what does a day look like?
00:03:48
Speaker
I get the idea it's unstructured, but I'm sure there's an organized chaos to it in terms of what you all are doing day to day.
00:03:54
Speaker
Does one of you want to describe like, what did you do today?
00:03:57
Speaker
What did you do yesterday?
00:03:58
Speaker
What does it actually look like?
00:03:59
Speaker
I love this question because there is no typical day at One Stone.
00:04:02
Speaker
Every student is doing something different, especially this year.
00:04:06
Speaker
We have over the summer, we had several brainstorming sessions with students and coaches on how we should make the schedule this year.
00:04:13
Speaker
And so everyone is doing something different at different times.
00:04:16
Speaker
But we all have our design lab and we all do workshops and we all do experiences.
00:04:20
Speaker
And then we have stuff like community read, which is like book club.
00:04:26
Speaker
and other things like that.
00:04:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:28
Speaker
So like for me yesterday, I got to school and I started out the day with about an hour and 45 minutes of my experience, which is kind of like my big class that I got to pick, which is an analyzation breakdown of systems.
00:04:40
Speaker
Then from there, I went into design lab where we implement our design
00:04:44
Speaker
process to solve real world problems for community members.
00:04:47
Speaker
Then we had lunch.
00:04:49
Speaker
And then my afternoon was broken up into two chunks, one for my math workshop, which I'm doing independently right now, and one for my writing workshop, which is called Adjacent Possible.
00:04:57
Speaker
And we're really diving deep into different objects that helped make our world and the possibilities behind.
00:05:03
Speaker
Also, one big thing to highlight about what one stone looks like in a day to day is to really notice that everything we do here is super interdisciplinary.
00:05:11
Speaker
So like Ella was saying, she's in this experience about systems and that can look like education systems.
00:05:19
Speaker
That can look like waste systems.
00:05:20
Speaker
That can look like anything you want it to look like.
00:05:23
Speaker
And in that way, it really molds together
00:05:26
Speaker
So many different areas.
00:05:27
Speaker
One of the coolest things about our current schedule is that it's super customizable.
00:05:32
Speaker
So you can tie everything you're doing in the day together into one thing you're interested in.
00:05:37
Speaker
So like a lot of the things I'm working on right now focus around sustainability and like studying climate change and stuff like that.
00:05:43
Speaker
Whereas like Ray is doing a lot of stuff for like her individual passions.
00:05:47
Speaker
And I think our experiences are a really great example of what One Stone is and us being student led.
00:05:54
Speaker
At the beginning of the year, we spent about a week brainstorming and creating these experiences that we were going to do for eight weeks in the fall.
00:06:00
Speaker
And our group
Creating Personalized Learning Experiences
00:06:02
Speaker
created systems.
00:06:03
Speaker
So everyone is diving into a system that they're interested in.
00:06:06
Speaker
Ray is doing education.
00:06:07
Speaker
I'm doing government.
00:06:08
Speaker
Ella's doing education.
00:06:09
Speaker
Kind of a mix of everything.
00:06:11
Speaker
It's just, it's a really cool way for us to be able to dive into our passions, but also have, you know, a good.
00:06:18
Speaker
Like structure behind it, I would say.
00:06:20
Speaker
Like you get to dive into your passions in a way that makes it super great for your learning experience in total.
00:06:26
Speaker
So you gain not just an understanding of the thing that you're passionate about and researching, but we're also learning how to like critically read, do math, like all these things that are components of your big project.
00:06:37
Speaker
And something else that's fit into our schedule is if you are intending to graduate soon and you're applying to colleges and things like that, there is space in the schedule for you to be doing that and working with that and working with our college counselor and things like that.
00:06:53
Speaker
So OneStone really...
00:06:55
Speaker
strives for students to be college ready, career ready and life ready, which I think is really cool because if you don't, if you're not applying to college, you have the space to be exploring your future career and getting internships and getting your foot in the door in those opportunities.
Empowerment and Adaptation Challenges
00:07:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:13
Speaker
Where to start?
00:07:14
Speaker
I have so many questions.
00:07:16
Speaker
Let's start at the very beginning of this.
00:07:19
Speaker
I'm not sure how long all of you have been going to OneStone, but what is that like when you first step into the environment and you're placed in a position of power, right?
00:07:31
Speaker
You're someone who actually can design their own learning experience.
00:07:34
Speaker
What's it like adapting to that?
00:07:35
Speaker
What were your first projects like or your first designs like?
00:07:38
Speaker
What were you doing?
00:07:40
Speaker
I'm in my third year here at One Stone and I have another year left.
00:07:45
Speaker
Two years ago, I transitioned from a traditional public school to One Stone and the transition from going to a place that is solely dependent on grades as your main form of validation to going to somewhere that really sees you as a person and like holistically as a person and a learner was
00:08:09
Speaker
really insane.
00:08:11
Speaker
And it took me a while to get used to it.
00:08:13
Speaker
But like the overwhelming amount of support at One Stone really makes it easier.
00:08:18
Speaker
And just knowing that everyone is in this for you as well.
00:08:22
Speaker
Yeah, I have a quick thing.
00:08:23
Speaker
I just want to say, like, right when you asked, what did it feel like?
00:08:27
Speaker
I was like imagining me in my first year, which was last year, walking in and it just feels like a big hug.
00:08:34
Speaker
You know, they're putting like, they respect you.
00:08:36
Speaker
They trust you.
00:08:37
Speaker
They're here to support you.
00:08:39
Speaker
Everyone just wants you to be you.
00:08:41
Speaker
And it just feels like a big hug coming into this building in this community.
00:08:46
Speaker
Yeah, I had a little bit of a different experience.
00:08:48
Speaker
I grew up around One Stone and I had a sibling that was here for a couple of years.
00:08:51
Speaker
So I kind of knew the lingo.
00:08:53
Speaker
I kind of knew the space a little bit, but I was still super intimidated.
00:08:56
Speaker
And like, I did not feel like I would belong here.
00:08:59
Speaker
Like I always saw One Stone as this super cool thing that I was not a part of and that I couldn't be a part of because I was just, you know, an internal voice in my head telling me that.
00:09:10
Speaker
But when I came to One Stone, it was like,
00:09:13
Speaker
you are meant to be here.
00:09:14
Speaker
If you want to be here, you can be here.
00:09:16
Speaker
You can get as much out of one stone as you put into one stone.
00:09:18
Speaker
And it was really just like this breath of fresh air.
00:09:20
Speaker
Like I have control of my education and I can do great things.
00:09:24
Speaker
Yeah, for me, I kind of had the same experience as Lila did.
00:09:29
Speaker
I'm in my second year at One Stone and grades back at the public school I went to before were how I kind of got all of my validation and how I measured my self-worth.
Supportive Environment and Learning from Failure
00:09:40
Speaker
So coming into One Stone, I was super excited for all of like the community involvement and opportunities that we would have, but very apprehensive of having that like validation and kind of safety net stripped away from me.
00:09:52
Speaker
And I really, really struggled with that.
00:09:54
Speaker
in my first year.
00:09:55
Speaker
And over and over again, my mentors and coaches have told me that there is kind of a point in each student's OneStone journey where they get it and they like understand kind of what we like to think of the magic behind OneStone.
00:10:08
Speaker
And I think that really happened for me this year.
00:10:12
Speaker
And there were a couple moments last year that really contributed that, like when I had a project that was a science experiment that really didn't work.
00:10:18
Speaker
And I was so scared because I was like,
00:10:20
Speaker
My project didn't work.
00:10:22
Speaker
I don't really have any data to complete a data table with.
00:10:24
Speaker
My teacher is going to be really upset with me.
00:10:26
Speaker
It's going to like ruin my first year at One Stone.
00:10:28
Speaker
I'm going to be destroyed.
00:10:30
Speaker
And my teacher was like, whoa, it didn't work.
00:10:32
Speaker
That's so cool.
00:10:33
Speaker
Why didn't it work?
00:10:34
Speaker
And I was like, you're excited about this?
00:10:37
Speaker
And those moments have really helped me like adjust to this new space.
00:10:42
Speaker
And it's just super different for everyone.
00:10:44
Speaker
Like there are people who come into One Stone and are immediately like,
00:10:47
Speaker
They belong here and it's their space.
00:10:49
Speaker
And then there are some
Open Learning Spaces and Community Connection
00:10:50
Speaker
of us who maybe take a little longer, but I think, or at least I hope that everybody leaves one stone kind of having had that moment of like, wow, like this is what one stone is and this is what it means.
00:11:02
Speaker
And this is what it feels like to truly be at one stone.
00:11:06
Speaker
I mean, what a powerful experience.
00:11:08
Speaker
The fact that all of you are relating so much to community.
00:11:11
Speaker
I think really says something about the vibe, if you will, of the space and how awesome that is.
00:11:17
Speaker
Let's talk about physical space.
00:11:19
Speaker
So you have this environment where you're coming in, you're developing these projects.
00:11:24
Speaker
It sounds like some of the projects are shared amongst other folks in the group, but you're all taking your own spin on it.
00:11:31
Speaker
What is the actual space like?
00:11:33
Speaker
Are we all in a giant room together, all doing our own thing?
00:11:36
Speaker
Are there...
00:11:37
Speaker
So OneStone currently has two spaces.
00:11:40
Speaker
The one that we're in right now is a converted warehouse.
00:11:44
Speaker
And it's essentially one big open space.
00:11:47
Speaker
We happen to be right now in a production studio.
00:11:51
Speaker
So this is like for music, podcasting, all of that stuff.
00:11:55
Speaker
And you might be able to faintly hear behind us the enthusiastic yells of everyone else in the great room, as we like to call it.
00:12:05
Speaker
Yeah, so we don't have classrooms.
00:12:07
Speaker
We maybe only have like five closed off spaces in the whole space.
00:12:14
Speaker
And that contributes a lot to the way that our learning feels.
00:12:18
Speaker
And sometimes it can be insanely chaotic, but most of the time it's really amazing to see what everyone is doing in this one space and without wall.
00:12:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:30
Speaker
One stone is kind of like it's like one big room, like Lila said, the gray room with a couple of smaller rooms off of to the sides that are like conference rooms or the studio and stuff.
00:12:40
Speaker
But really, we don't have like doors.
00:12:43
Speaker
So it's a super kind of new way of being in a space and learning because there's not that much separation between you and everything else going on.
00:12:51
Speaker
um and i also think that that's a really big thing that we have to get used to because it's like there's a lot of background noise and stuff but like after a while i feel like it really becomes this like hotbed of creativity where you're like oh i can hear everybody else having these good ideas like now i have good ideas too because i can hear them all like yeah excited and like curious and there's opportunities so like our actual building is located in downtown boise
00:13:16
Speaker
So there's that opportunity to go work in a coffee shop like
Evolving Offerings and Student Input
00:13:20
Speaker
our systems experience.
00:13:22
Speaker
We went the other day and worked in the coffee shop for an hour and 45 minutes and we're right by a park and we go to the park all the time.
00:13:29
Speaker
So there are those that opportunity just like where we're located, where we get to kind of disperse and go to different places in BC.
00:13:36
Speaker
Yeah, I also think there's a lot of opportunity in the building.
00:13:38
Speaker
Like we have where now we're in Ripple Studios, so it's a music studio.
00:13:42
Speaker
And then we also have our foundry, which is our makerspace.
00:13:44
Speaker
We have stuff like CNC machine, laser printers, stuff like that.
00:13:48
Speaker
And then we also have our commercial kitchen, which is open to students during the day.
00:13:52
Speaker
And yeah, a lot of cool stuff comes out of this building.
00:13:56
Speaker
And I would add into that, you know, this idea of designing for connection to community is part of that physical space, too.
00:14:04
Speaker
So it's part of how we engage.
00:14:05
Speaker
But that physical space is one that, as you mentioned, you know, you're in a recording studio and that recording studio is open to anybody in the community.
00:14:14
Speaker
students in the region to be able to use.
00:14:17
Speaker
And so if we think about how do we make this a space that is community connected and community driven, part of that has to do with having something like a recording studio there or the commercial kitchen that you mentioned.
00:14:29
Speaker
We've had small businesses who are testing new products.
00:14:33
Speaker
They need a space where they can prepare that in order to take it to market.
00:14:36
Speaker
And we've invited them into our commercial kitchen.
00:14:38
Speaker
So it really becomes this communal space.
00:14:41
Speaker
That leads into a question I have about the difference between these different types of experiences that you have and how they relate together.
00:14:48
Speaker
So you have deep dives, you have immersions.
00:14:53
Speaker
I think there's also a couple other ones.
00:14:55
Speaker
Does someone want to walk me through what these different things are?
00:14:59
Speaker
A couple would be an understatement.
00:15:01
Speaker
I'd say one of the biggest adjustments to one is definitely understanding the lingo.
00:15:07
Speaker
Our vocabulary is always changing.
00:15:09
Speaker
So like they were called immersions.
00:15:11
Speaker
Then they were called experiential learning opportunities.
00:15:14
Speaker
Now they're explorations.
00:15:16
Speaker
Like after my first year, I was sitting down with one of our coaches and he was just like, forget everything about your first year.
00:15:23
Speaker
And that was just like, whoa.
00:15:25
Speaker
But then I came in the next year and I was like, oh, okay.
00:15:28
Speaker
So now we're doing this.
00:15:28
Speaker
This is super cool.
00:15:29
Speaker
But also I'm lost.
00:15:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:32
Speaker
So like currently we have our explorations, which are like kind of,
00:15:36
Speaker
what I like to think of the big chunk of my schedule that I get to kind of pick.
00:15:40
Speaker
And so there are these guided experiences that you do with coaches where there's kind of a broad topic and then you dive into your own individual projects part from that.
00:15:50
Speaker
So like me, Ian and Raya are all in analyzing systems.
00:15:55
Speaker
So we each are picking a system that we're breaking down and then either modeling visually or like remaking.
00:16:02
Speaker
And just by the end of these
00:16:04
Speaker
explorations, the thing that they kind of all share in common is that you produce a final artifact, which is like a project that sums up all of the work you've done in those like however many weeks that you were in that exploration for.
00:16:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:18
Speaker
And then we have immersions, which are a three-week long experience where you're doing just that all day, every day.
00:16:24
Speaker
Then we have some smaller things.
00:16:25
Speaker
We have like community read, which is there's like 12 different options of books that have either student leads or coach leads.
00:16:33
Speaker
And you can pick which book sounds the most interesting, the most appealing.
00:16:36
Speaker
And then for the next like eight weeks, however long it is, you just dive into that book and you read it and you talk about it.
00:16:42
Speaker
It's like a little book club.
00:16:44
Speaker
We have workshops and sprints.
00:16:47
Speaker
So those are a writing workshop and a math sprint.
00:16:50
Speaker
So the math looks different this year.
00:16:52
Speaker
There's a lot of people doing independent math, which can be, you know, Khan Academy.
00:16:56
Speaker
It can be IDLA, which is like an online math platform.
00:17:01
Speaker
It could just be working through a textbook like Ian is just going through a textbook.
00:17:05
Speaker
And then there's also things offered by coaches.
00:17:08
Speaker
which they range from, you know, solving equations to advanced applied calculus or algebra and things like that.
00:17:16
Speaker
And then writing workshops also differ from like scientific writing to fictional storytelling.
00:17:22
Speaker
And you get to pick for everything.
00:17:25
Speaker
I think that's one of the coolest parts of One Stone is you have these chunks that are kind of set out for you, but within them, you have so much choice of what they look like, what you're doing, what time you're doing them and things.
00:17:37
Speaker
I would throw in that part of the reason for this change that you're hearing about, while it can be confusing, it's tied to what members of this group said at the very beginning, that one stone is the belief in the power of students and making students better leaders and the world a better place.
00:17:51
Speaker
And if that is the core, then everything else around it can change.
00:17:55
Speaker
And we are...
00:17:56
Speaker
you know, used to that culture of pivoting and iterating to continue to try and get closer to that mission.
00:18:01
Speaker
So, you know, that's why our students can be okay with the fact that semester by semester things look so different because we're keeping our mission and vision right in the forefront as we change everything else around it to continue to get closer.
00:18:13
Speaker
Yeah, one stone lab week one hasn't had a schedule that's looked the same
Flexible Schedules and Self-Directed Learning
00:18:17
Speaker
two years in a row.
00:18:17
Speaker
Like it's always changing.
00:18:20
Speaker
And one of the things that we really value as students is like embracing that ambiguity and coming to school every day, maybe not knowing what we're going to be doing, but like diving deep into it and getting as much out of it as
00:18:31
Speaker
Just a couple like quick logistic questions just to frame this for the audience.
00:18:35
Speaker
The first would be so when you're choosing a schedule for your classes, I'm assuming that it's almost like a college type environment where it's like this class is offered at this time, this time, this time I choose one of those three.
00:18:48
Speaker
Or is it up to you to set like it's entirely flexible?
00:18:51
Speaker
For our explorations, we actually spend a good chunk of time creating those.
00:18:57
Speaker
And then they get compiled and kind of synthesized.
00:19:01
Speaker
And then, yeah, you're right.
00:19:02
Speaker
We kind of pick...
00:19:06
Speaker
how they fit into our schedule.
00:19:08
Speaker
So like math workshops, like some will only be offered at certain times.
00:19:13
Speaker
So if you're like, oh, I really need to take this, then you'll be taking that and you'll kind of mold your schedule around.
00:19:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:18
Speaker
So I like to think of it as kind of pick like one thing that you really, really want, or maybe two things, maybe one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and then you mold the rest of the blocks of your schedule to fit those two things.
00:19:31
Speaker
And then there's also that ownership of it and the accountability of like, okay, I know that this semester I need to take a math sprint and a writing workshop.
00:19:41
Speaker
And even though, you know, this sewing exploration sounds really fun, I think that this takes priority over that for me personally.
00:19:49
Speaker
And having that like management to be like, okay, I'm going to take that another semester.
00:19:55
Speaker
And right now I'm going to do this math writing.
00:19:58
Speaker
And some of that work, you know, comes into play is both what you're describing, right?
00:20:01
Speaker
I think is fantastic.
00:20:02
Speaker
You have the ownership and it's also a shared conversation with a mentor and sort of, you know, bouncing ideas off each other and somebody who can look at short term versus long term, exploring that.
00:20:13
Speaker
And then, you know, something that we might address later in the call or maybe right now is exploring our living in beta wayfinding program that students are engaged in.
00:20:21
Speaker
So really, you
00:20:23
Speaker
looking at interest inventory and then starting to look at what those things could look like if you dove into them more deeply and starting to uncover some passions and connections between them and then how you can explore those through the offerings that are either available already at once or through creating some of the things that you don't see that you feel like should be there.
00:20:41
Speaker
To add on to the question about just describing this idea of living in beta, you had also mentioned crafting the experiences before you sign up to take them.
00:20:52
Speaker
Can you walk through as well, how does that all connect together?
00:20:56
Speaker
Like are you as individuals crafting your own experiences or are you all doing that as a group and then it's being offered and you're choosing from that?
00:21:05
Speaker
What does that look like and how does that connect to your interests at large?
00:21:09
Speaker
This was something new we tried this year.
00:21:11
Speaker
And to be honest, it was a little bit rocky at times.
00:21:14
Speaker
Like you have 105 people with all different interests and you somehow have to come up with like six or seven different things for all of us.
00:21:22
Speaker
So it was a little bit hard, but we spent about three or four days.
00:21:26
Speaker
Like we did a lot of different like brainstorming activities and like we interviewed someone and like created an experience for them just like it.
00:21:34
Speaker
creative juices flowing and then we all decided what kind of time we wanted to do things and then we met with all those people and sort of came up with what experience we would be doing and how that would look.
00:21:47
Speaker
Yeah so the sequence of that was kind of making our tea popper which is a part of Living in Beta and it's basically just a mind map
00:21:57
Speaker
brain dump, whatever you want to call it, of you and your passions and interests.
00:22:01
Speaker
And you would take that and you would partner up with someone and then you would design for each other.
00:22:05
Speaker
And then you would take some time to look over what they designed for you and kind of edit it a little to make it your ideal experience.
00:22:13
Speaker
And then we broke into those groups based on the time slots we would be doing our exploration and then brought all of our ideas to like a broad topic.
00:22:23
Speaker
And I know for like our group specifically, we took a minute and looked back at some of the things other people had written.
00:22:30
Speaker
And that when we were in our time slot, and that was really what kind of created this systems exploration that we're in because we saw someone else's like experience that they designed for someone's exploration, excuse me.
00:22:42
Speaker
someone else's exploration that they designed for someone.
00:22:44
Speaker
And we were like, whoa, analyzing systems sounds really fun.
00:22:47
Speaker
And like it could incorporate a really wide like range of passions.
00:22:52
Speaker
And we found a coach who was super happy to do that with us.
00:22:55
Speaker
And then we kind of pitched that to our group.
00:22:57
Speaker
And a lot of people were like, that sounds great.
00:23:00
Speaker
So that was kind of how that exploration like came to fruition.
00:23:04
Speaker
And I feel like that's kind of the similar process that a lot of other groups experienced as well.
00:23:09
Speaker
I mean, that's what our nonprofit focuses on.
00:23:11
Speaker
So you're definitely like in our world systems-based thinking is like the whole concept behind it.
00:23:16
Speaker
I love all of this.
00:23:18
Speaker
Rhea, earlier you were saying you were talking about how you didn't take sewing, for example, as one of the explorations because you wanted to focus more on like the math.
00:23:27
Speaker
Is that part of that wayfinding process that you know that I'm going to need to know math in my future?
00:23:32
Speaker
So therefore I need to take this class.
00:23:34
Speaker
What is your like rationale for taking one class over another class?
00:23:38
Speaker
Yeah, so I think that one for me, because that was something that I actually was like going through.
00:23:45
Speaker
I was like, there is a sewing one going on right now.
00:23:46
Speaker
And I was like, oh, that is so cool.
00:23:49
Speaker
But I was also like, I kind of want to focus on math.
00:23:52
Speaker
And so that decision for me was based on the math that was being offered.
00:23:58
Speaker
It was the advanced applied algebra.
00:24:01
Speaker
And I had just taken almost like a prerequisite for that the previous year.
00:24:07
Speaker
And I was like, oh, I love the coach this is with.
00:24:10
Speaker
And I learned so well.
00:24:11
Speaker
And I really enjoy doing math when I'm doing math with this coach.
00:24:14
Speaker
So I want to do that, not just because I think I'll need it in my future because who knows if I will, but because I really enjoy it.
00:24:22
Speaker
And then I also talked with the coach that was offering the sewing exploration.
00:24:26
Speaker
And I was like, could I do this with you after the school day or in another semester?
00:24:32
Speaker
And she was super understanding.
00:24:33
Speaker
And she was like, yeah, I think I'll offer something like this.
00:24:36
Speaker
at the next semester or another year that you're here.
00:24:39
Speaker
So there will be opportunity for you to be doing this.
00:24:43
Speaker
So it was more of just like, what do I want to be doing this semester with that time block?
00:24:48
Speaker
And it was kind of based off my passions and it just went with math.
00:24:52
Speaker
It sounds like because of the opportunities that you've all been provided, it sounds obvious, but it actually is quite innovative that you have the opportunity to think about these things.
00:25:03
Speaker
Like you're stopping and thinking about
00:25:05
Speaker
this is why I'm taking this class.
00:25:07
Speaker
This is why it matters to me.
00:25:10
Speaker
This is something I might use or might not use.
00:25:13
Speaker
But you're satisfied with that ambiguity.
00:25:17
Speaker
I think for a lot of folks, they want the answer right then and there on whether or not this class is useful or not useful.
00:25:23
Speaker
Put me through it and go on this zombification process where I'm going to go to college or career or whatever using these tools because they've been set up for me and that's the pathway that I'm on.
00:25:33
Speaker
But because of the
00:25:34
Speaker
the more meta narrative of what's going on at lab 51, you all are understanding how to act within that, that like questionable, never knowing what's going to happen environment.
00:25:46
Speaker
That's such a unique experience.
00:25:48
Speaker
I don't know if I've ever spoken to the young folks that can articulate it like that because they, these kinds of schools don't, are not that normal.
00:25:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:56
Speaker
It's, you know, it's interesting that,
00:25:59
Speaker
In your example there, the answer that somebody wants when they take the required class or choose between these things, of course, that's a false answer anyway, right?
00:26:07
Speaker
It's an assurance that this is valuable because we said so.
00:26:12
Speaker
And we, you know,
00:26:14
Speaker
as those of us who've gone through high school and then, you know, put into the college and beyond realize that, oh, just because this was a requirement at some point in the past had no bearing on whether or not it would be valuable in the future that we could not predict and the kind of work that we would be doing.
00:26:27
Speaker
And so this idea that, you know, students are embracing ambiguity and recognizing that they want to develop a toolbox that can be applied in a variety of ways or something just as basic as what Ray's describing there is like,
00:26:39
Speaker
responding to your internal instinct to follow your curiosity.
00:26:44
Speaker
And my curiosity is about this particular thing.
00:26:47
Speaker
It strikes me that you're right and you're saying that we don't hear about this much.
00:26:52
Speaker
This seems so rare.
00:26:53
Speaker
And yet in some ways, all we're describing is every human being's natural instinct towards curiosity and then following up on that, which we all do when we're very young and then sometimes get unfortunately conditioned away from that.
00:27:06
Speaker
When you're talking about embracing ambiguity here at One Stone, I mean, really, that's just what you're doing in life.
00:27:12
Speaker
Like, especially outside of school.
00:27:15
Speaker
Like, that's constantly what you're doing.
00:27:18
Speaker
You never know a concrete
Progressive Education Philosophy
00:27:20
Speaker
answer for like, oh,
00:27:23
Speaker
I don't know, some random scenario, like, Oh, I don't know if I should go get coffee today.
00:27:27
Speaker
Like, no one's gonna tell you, like, yes, go get coffee today.
00:27:32
Speaker
And so you're right, like, it seems so obvious.
00:27:35
Speaker
And yet it's something that's so overlooked.
00:27:37
Speaker
And most I love that idea, too.
00:27:40
Speaker
And it's something Jesse that you mentioned, and really, both of you are getting at when you're trying to design for the future, you're often be incorrect.
00:27:48
Speaker
As in there was a big push in the last
00:27:51
Speaker
God, at this point, 20 years to do coding in school.
00:27:54
Speaker
There's like a code.org initiatives and focusing on code.
00:27:58
Speaker
And that's great.
00:27:58
Speaker
It's great if you want to focus on code in school.
00:28:00
Speaker
But the idea behind that was have every single kid take a coding class so they get jobs in STEM.
00:28:06
Speaker
But the issue is going to be, obviously, if every single kid learns how to code, that's going to lead to a lot of problems down the road.
00:28:12
Speaker
And they're not necessarily interested in coding.
00:28:14
Speaker
And they're not necessarily going to relate those skills they learned in school to what they're going to do after school, et cetera, et cetera.
00:28:20
Speaker
In your environment, all of the decisions are being made year to year.
00:28:23
Speaker
They're not being made top down.
00:28:25
Speaker
But it is interesting, segue, that you have a student-led board where decisions are being made because they're being made primarily by young people.
00:28:36
Speaker
Let's talk about that because that's also hyper unique.
00:28:39
Speaker
The student-led board, what do you all do?
00:28:42
Speaker
What is the student board?
Student Leadership and Decision-Making
00:28:44
Speaker
What is it?
00:28:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's actually written into our bylaws that we have to have at least two thirds of the board of directors be high school students.
00:28:54
Speaker
And so that's something that's so foundational in what the board is.
00:28:59
Speaker
And it's not just like a student council.
00:29:01
Speaker
Like, no, this is a nonprofit board of directors and it's real.
00:29:05
Speaker
And a lot of what we do.
00:29:09
Speaker
is super like high level, like looking at what the organization needs, not today, but what will make us sustainable for five years, 10 years in the future.
00:29:18
Speaker
What about the next generation of students that go to One Stone?
00:29:22
Speaker
And so like the decision to make One Stone tuition based was made by the board of directors and was made by two thirds students.
00:29:34
Speaker
And same with everything that we're doing here.
00:29:36
Speaker
Yeah, and I think another thing is right now, actually, the board, it must be two-thirds students, but I'm pretty sure right now it's more like three-fourths students.
00:29:45
Speaker
And it's not just students that go to Lab 51.
00:29:48
Speaker
We have students from other schools, other high schools, public schools that are part of things like Project Good, which is our student organization.
00:29:58
Speaker
led experiential service program, which is an afterschool thing.
00:30:02
Speaker
So anyone in the Treasure Valley can come and join.
00:30:04
Speaker
And there's kids who are super involved with that and they love One Stone.
00:30:07
Speaker
They believe in the mission and they get invited to the board of directors and they're on there.
00:30:13
Speaker
People super involved with like two birds and who are there at every two birds meeting and are making, you know, ads, commercials, documentaries, whatever it is with two birds.
00:30:22
Speaker
They're on the board.
00:30:23
Speaker
So it's really interesting.
00:30:25
Speaker
It's so cool.
00:30:26
Speaker
And I didn't really know this until I was on the board that there were students outside of Lab 51 who I didn't see every day that loved OneStone as much as I did.
00:30:34
Speaker
And being able to talk with them and hear their experiences of being in our community, but also still being in that more traditional environment has been like such a interesting duality.
00:30:48
Speaker
And just like, I don't know, it's been amazing.
00:30:51
Speaker
I've really loved that part of being on the board.
00:30:53
Speaker
Yeah, and just kind of to take it in a different direction, like being on the board as a student has felt so incredibly empowering because it's just this like, it's a real board.
00:31:04
Speaker
It does anything like a nonprofit board for any other nonprofit organization would do.
00:31:09
Speaker
And like, I'm a high school student on the board.
00:31:12
Speaker
And like, I can introduce myself.
00:31:14
Speaker
I can be like, hi, I'm Ella.
00:31:15
Speaker
I'm a board member at One Stone.
00:31:17
Speaker
Like, it's insane.
00:31:19
Speaker
And the opportunities that like we get to do
00:31:22
Speaker
Because of like the things, not just the board, the things that happen at One Stone are so incredible.
00:31:28
Speaker
And I just like have felt so empowered.
00:31:32
Speaker
And I feel like a lot of people feel the same way.
00:31:34
Speaker
Like just that you feel so lifted up by being included on such like a big scale and big level of this organization.
00:31:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:42
Speaker
And a lot of what we do is like reviewing the audit and like reviewing our executive director's compensation and like all of that stuff.
00:31:50
Speaker
And it's just it's crazy to think about like, oh, my God, like I'm 16 and I'm reviewing audits.
00:31:58
Speaker
Like that just doesn't make any sense.
00:32:00
Speaker
And it's still something that I'm like trying to wrap my head around.
00:32:04
Speaker
And it's also so interesting to contrast that with what most people see like a student board as, like take a student council at a traditional school, like they're maybe planning the prom, like that's probably their biggest duty.
00:32:18
Speaker
Like I just, I just think that's really fascinating.
00:32:21
Speaker
And I feel like especially like everybody's like perception of a high school student is kind of like your classic teenager who they portray in the movies, who's maybe kind of a slob, who doesn't really feel super passionate about school.
00:32:32
Speaker
And then we kind of take that definition and like flip it on its head.
00:32:35
Speaker
And we're like, we kind of run our organization like hand in hand with our administrators and coaches and everybody.
00:32:43
Speaker
And we are excited about it and we just take charge fearlessly.
00:32:47
Speaker
And I think that's a really cool thing that One Stone cultivates for anyone who kind of comes in contact.
00:32:53
Speaker
we're all in a community read.
00:32:54
Speaker
We're reading The Power Moments right now.
00:32:56
Speaker
Really good book.
00:32:57
Speaker
But one of the main points of like, how can you make a moment?
00:33:01
Speaker
Like, what is a moment?
00:33:03
Speaker
And one of the things is breaking the script.
00:33:04
Speaker
And I believe that One Stone totally breaks the script, like shatters expectations.
00:33:08
Speaker
And we are like, when I think of a school, One Stone is probably like one of the last things I would think of before I came here.
00:33:15
Speaker
But it's truly incredible.
00:33:18
Speaker
I want to just amplify exactly what we're talking about here because it's mind blowing.
00:33:22
Speaker
So Ella,
00:33:23
Speaker
You hinted at like, you know, you're doing compensation, for example, or you're doing, you know, you're doing actual things that actual nonprofits do.
00:33:32
Speaker
You're hiring and firing teachers or mentors.
00:33:36
Speaker
You're quite literally on the call.
00:33:38
Speaker
We have Jesse, who's the director of strategic partnerships.
Community and Lifelong Learning
00:33:41
Speaker
He is also subordinate, at least to the collective of you.
00:33:45
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:33:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:47
Speaker
I work for them.
00:33:48
Speaker
That's just like such a unique thing, because I think a lot of places will
00:33:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:10
Speaker
I don't know.
00:34:11
Speaker
I feel like it's really a combination of things.
00:34:13
Speaker
Like, of course, like students making so many decisions, like makes it super possible for all other students to feel really empowered and lifted up and like they can really join in in the effort and kind of like build our army of good for good.
00:34:26
Speaker
But also I feel like having coaches and administrators who really believe in you and who let you know that they believe in you and that they trust you is also huge because I mean, we all kind of have grown up in this environment where it's like teachers are here above you and students are like learning from teachers.
00:34:45
Speaker
But at one time, it's the idea of like learning together.
00:34:48
Speaker
And that's not just with coaches.
00:34:51
Speaker
That's with like Jesse.
00:34:52
Speaker
Like we're learning with Jesse and we're learning with like,
00:34:57
Speaker
the like director of our school Teresa, like it's just super cool.
00:35:03
Speaker
And I don't know how else to describe it.
00:35:06
Speaker
It's just amazing because I feel like it's not just other students lifting you up.
00:35:10
Speaker
It's everybody.
00:35:11
Speaker
It's a whole community effort.
00:35:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:14
Speaker
And I think One Stone has been helping me learn from others that aren't in a school environment.
00:35:22
Speaker
So like, for example, when I'm thinking of the board, I'm thinking of
00:35:27
Speaker
are adult board members who have been on multiple other nonprofit boards and have worked in so many different organizations.
00:35:35
Speaker
And so they bring so much knowledge to the board and even just like the way they phrase things and what they say, I'm like, oh, I can use that.
00:35:42
Speaker
Like that's what people talk.
00:35:44
Speaker
I'm like, I get it now.
00:35:46
Speaker
And so, and then even just in any opportunity, I, you know, one stone is fostering a love for learning.
00:35:53
Speaker
And that love for learning goes way beyond our building.
00:35:56
Speaker
And so this isn't at all answering the question you asked.
00:36:00
Speaker
But I learn everywhere now.
00:36:03
Speaker
I'm walking down the greenbelt and I see a plant and I'm like, oh, yes.
00:36:09
Speaker
tree of heaven.
00:36:10
Speaker
I get like, I'm just always learning and I love it.
00:36:13
Speaker
And I love having this mindset now of just this love for learning is just, you know what?
00:36:19
Speaker
I love it.
00:36:20
Speaker
And one thing I really like, like to kind of go off what Raya said, I feel like one stone like creates lifelong learners, which I feel like is something that gets lost in translation a lot of the time.
00:36:33
Speaker
But here we really strive to kind of empower everyone to follow their curiosity.
00:36:38
Speaker
past high school, past college, like throughout the rest of your life.
00:36:41
Speaker
Like you never stop learning and you never stop growing.
00:36:44
Speaker
And like the growth mindset that you gain at OneStone is huge.
00:36:49
Speaker
Like failure is a totally different concept here than it is in traditional school.
00:36:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:54
Speaker
because like we embrace it and we love it.
00:36:55
Speaker
And it's this insane growth opportunity, kind of like this metamorphosis like moment.
00:37:02
Speaker
And I just think that that's super cool and kind of goes hand in hand with love of learning and being a lifelong learner and having this growth mindset.
00:37:09
Speaker
And we're all in Pathfinders, which is like our admissions program.
Student-Led Admissions and Outreach
00:37:13
Speaker
And a part of that is giving tours to potential students and their families.
00:37:17
Speaker
And one of my favorite things about it is seeing like how excited their parents or guardian is.
00:37:21
Speaker
Like they are just as excited about being in this space and seeing what we're doing as the kids are.
00:37:26
Speaker
I hear a lot of like,
00:37:27
Speaker
I wish I had this when I was a kid.
00:37:28
Speaker
And it's just, it makes my heart so happy to see that like, this is so much bigger than just us as students.
00:37:34
Speaker
Like this is something that could be beneficial for everybody.
00:37:37
Speaker
And just to clarify that point though, right.
00:37:39
Speaker
So our students are the ones who are,
00:37:42
Speaker
making the decisions about, you know, admissions, the whole application process.
00:37:48
Speaker
They do that in conjunction with the leaders of the school who are also adults, but it is the students leading the way all along.
00:37:54
Speaker
And then they have such a sense of buy-in of, you know, the creation of this community as well and how that process works.
00:38:02
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, your original question, I think, I think you were answering the question, Rhea, because I think it was about, you know, what leads to one stone success.
00:38:10
Speaker
And some of that has to do with just when you break down that sort of, you know, box that was education, once you crack that open, then suddenly we see, wait, education is everywhere.
00:38:23
Speaker
The, you know, empowerment and learning is everywhere.
00:38:26
Speaker
And it doesn't look like one thing.
00:38:27
Speaker
And you're all describing parts of that.
00:38:29
Speaker
So students,
00:38:31
Speaker
you know, leading their own learning.
00:38:33
Speaker
That sounds radical.
00:38:34
Speaker
But again, going back to what we found before, that actually is very natural, right?
00:38:38
Speaker
You're just now taking advantage of that opportunity.
00:38:45
Speaker
Hey, thanks for listening to our podcast so far.
00:38:47
Speaker
We know you've probably heard this before, but it genuinely does make a huge difference if you could like this podcast on your favorite provider and leave a review.
00:38:54
Speaker
This helps even more folks listen to great conversations like this one.
00:38:58
Speaker
Further, if you want to access free resources to build a human-centered education system, check out our research, handbooks, writings, and additional podcasts at humanrestorationproject.org.
00:39:07
Speaker
Now, back to the show.
00:39:12
Speaker
On the one hand, it makes me very sad, but on the other hand, it makes me very hopeful that
00:39:16
Speaker
This is such a transformational learning experience for you all when you just change the underlying systems and structures of how school works.
00:39:25
Speaker
This is not meant to discredit any of you, but it's not like you all are the most amazing students that ever existed.
00:39:32
Speaker
It's not that.
00:39:33
Speaker
It's just the fact that you're young people that are given the power and privilege and ability to be yourselves and have a say in what you do.
00:39:41
Speaker
in a meaningful way.
00:39:42
Speaker
And as a result, you're able to flourish.
00:39:45
Speaker
And I think about that at scale.
00:39:47
Speaker
If you could see that across the entire country or across the entire world, how that would transform society at large to have systems that way.
00:39:56
Speaker
In terms of how you work as a nonprofit, obviously you're expanding upon your programs and offering this to your community.
00:40:04
Speaker
Do you ever think about outreach to other schools, traditional schools, or even just expanding your model in general?
00:40:11
Speaker
This is actually so funny because yesterday we all, the four of us met with Jesse to talk about an opportunity that we're really excited about, about possibly partnering with another school to focus on sustainability practices and design thinking.
00:40:27
Speaker
So to answer your question, yes, we're always working with other schools.
00:40:31
Speaker
In my current design lab project where I practice design thinking, I'm currently working with many schools in Canada to
00:40:40
Speaker
kind of develop a mental health initiative for teenagers.
00:40:44
Speaker
So yes, we're always, always working with other schools and trying to get our mission
00:40:50
Speaker
And then at an organizational level, yes, in addition to what the students are engaging in, we, in the last two years, have started to partner with other schools and organizations, sharing aspects of our model.
00:41:03
Speaker
So in particular, our Living in Beta program that we've talked about, we now offer certification in becoming a wayfinding mentor and using this Living in Beta program.
00:41:15
Speaker
And we've been sharing that training program with educators and
00:41:20
Speaker
teachers and homeschool parents for those who want to engage in student-led learning.
00:41:28
Speaker
We've been doing that with those around the country and with different cohorts around the world.
00:41:33
Speaker
We also are sharing our human-centered design for student-driven learning.
00:41:38
Speaker
So our particular approach to human-centered design, we offer certification in that program as well.
00:41:43
Speaker
We've been doing that for another year here.
00:41:45
Speaker
And then another major aspect of One Stone that is now being shared around the country is our growth framework.
00:41:53
Speaker
And so this is something that contains both our bold learning objectives.
00:41:58
Speaker
That's our unique profile of a graduate, which contains 32 21st century skills or durable skills ranging from mindfulness to humility to passion.
00:42:09
Speaker
So our bold learning objectives, which we affectionately call the blob, and all of our students, rather than having grades, they set goals in and self-assess and receive assessment in their growth in those 32 learning objectives that are in our blob.
00:42:25
Speaker
And then we've alongside that created something we call the growth transcript, which allows different weights to be applied to those assessments and for various people to input those assessments, whether that's teachers or an internship lead or, you know, a boss at work and the students themselves, of course.
00:42:43
Speaker
And it aggregates those and then presents growth in every one of those areas, ranging from sort of just developing in the area to all the way to mastering.
00:42:52
Speaker
There are now several schools that are piloting the use of this growth framework in their organizations.
00:42:58
Speaker
We call them schools that are powered by OneStone.
00:43:01
Speaker
And pretty happy about the fact that we've also just this summer received a grant from the National Science Foundation to build out this growth framework platform in an app that will be really accessible for others around the country.
00:43:15
Speaker
Congrats.
00:43:15
Speaker
That's incredible.
00:43:17
Speaker
I don't like dealing in the business of caveats because...
00:43:20
Speaker
I feel like the conversations always end up being pointless because you get into like, but what about college admissions?
00:43:25
Speaker
What about testing?
00:43:25
Speaker
What about standards?
00:43:26
Speaker
Like all of these, what about type questions, which at the end of the day, you all are showing what happens.
00:43:33
Speaker
Like you don't need to explain yourselves theoretically on why these things matter because you yourselves are living examples of how it works.
00:43:41
Speaker
However, I'm sure you all have data in terms of the folks that would, would listen to this and say,
00:43:46
Speaker
You know, are they going to college?
00:43:47
Speaker
Are they successful after this?
00:43:49
Speaker
Or are they just wandering off into the world with no guidance?
Success Beyond One Stone
00:43:53
Speaker
What does the post-school experience look like?
00:43:55
Speaker
Yeah, I'll jump in here, but feel free.
00:43:58
Speaker
I know some of you have siblings who have gone through One Stone and can speak to this as well.
00:44:03
Speaker
Yeah, it's a great question.
00:44:05
Speaker
With our first class, that was the number one question that all parents had, right?
00:44:09
Speaker
The first, we opened the doors and said, well, this sounds amazing.
00:44:12
Speaker
I don't want to close any doors for my students down the line.
00:44:15
Speaker
And what's going to happen here with this growth transcript and no grades?
00:44:20
Speaker
We believe in it.
00:44:21
Speaker
We asked for a lot of trust with our community and we had a lot of data and research to back up what we're doing.
00:44:25
Speaker
But once that first class graduated and we saw that they were getting into every school they wanted to get into.
00:44:31
Speaker
And now that we're four classes through and we've been accepted into over 120 colleges and universities, ranging from the UC system to elite art schools, to Middlebury, you name it, that we know that this is not only something that works in terms of college admission, but
00:44:48
Speaker
But then the success that students are having once they're in college, being able to draw from the toolkit that you're getting glimpses of when you talk to these students here, the ability to know how to navigate ambiguity, to learn when you need to learn, to handle failure and to embrace it.
00:45:05
Speaker
All those things are leading to tremendous success in college or in career where students are already, some of them are choosing to jump there.
00:45:11
Speaker
But
00:45:12
Speaker
Yeah, just, you know, we have on our website, but a list of all of the schools.
00:45:16
Speaker
And, you know, it's one thing to step back for many of your listeners know this already that
00:45:21
Speaker
One stone isn't the first place that's offering a non-traditional transcript to colleges.
00:45:25
Speaker
This is no longer so boundary breaking to send students forward without a GPA or a letter grade that colleges are asking for some, you know, clarity on how your system works, what you're assessing, show us some rigor and some consistency.
00:45:40
Speaker
And we absolutely do that.
00:45:41
Speaker
And they are embracing it.
00:45:42
Speaker
Then they're coming back the next year and saying, please have more of your students apply.
00:45:45
Speaker
Yeah, and actually I can add a little bit of a personal tidbit to this.
00:45:49
Speaker
So my brother was in the first graduating class at 1CILNAP1 and he got into a pretty prestigious liberal arts college in Washington on a scholarship.
00:46:01
Speaker
And he is doing amazing there.
00:46:03
Speaker
He's about to graduate and just seeing how successful he was,
00:46:11
Speaker
in college was just so inspirational for me because I've talked to so many people who've been through the traditional public school system and are now like really struggling in college because they don't understand how to ask for help from their professors and they don't understand how to advocate for themselves and get the classes that they need.
00:46:33
Speaker
And so that's something that I think One Stone students will never struggle with.
00:46:39
Speaker
So yeah, we just,
00:46:41
Speaker
Yeah, another thing on that is my brother graduated just this past summer.
00:46:48
Speaker
And so he's in his first semester at a local college right now.
00:46:53
Speaker
And having that transition from like, there's a transition from a traditional environment into one stone.
00:47:00
Speaker
But there's also that reverse when you go into college of coming from an untraditional spot to a traditional schooling system again.
00:47:08
Speaker
And he was really worried about how he would do.
00:47:11
Speaker
But this toolbox for life is what is like pushing him through.
00:47:16
Speaker
He's like, you know, math, it's really tough.
00:47:19
Speaker
It's never been my thing.
00:47:21
Speaker
But I hear him still using words like, but I have grit, but I'm working on my management skills.
00:47:26
Speaker
Things that are on our blob that we make goals in consistently over our time at One Stone.
00:47:31
Speaker
Like they're still a part of his vocabulary and they're still how he is succeeding is with those things that we are learning here and exploring.
00:47:40
Speaker
And we have a great college counselor here.
00:47:42
Speaker
You know, we have like college essay writing nights.
00:47:45
Speaker
So we definitely have people here that can help us get to where we want to be.
00:47:49
Speaker
And you mentioned testing.
00:47:50
Speaker
Like last week, we all took a PSAT.
00:47:53
Speaker
And, you know, so we have.
00:47:55
Speaker
We killed it.
00:47:56
Speaker
Yeah, we killed it.
00:47:59
Speaker
And we have like the structure to be able to like do all these things and also succeed in college.
00:48:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think what's most self-evident is that toolbox that you all are carrying with you makes you not, for lack of a better way of saying it, lose your humanity.
Suggestions for Traditional Schools
00:48:17
Speaker
You care about other people.
00:48:18
Speaker
You care about learning.
00:48:20
Speaker
It's not just about college and career readiness, although that might be something that's important.
00:48:25
Speaker
At the end of the day, what matters the most is that you care about other people, that you're part of a community, that you're able to speak up and use your voice.
00:48:32
Speaker
That's such a powerful tool for
00:48:34
Speaker
a hundred, a thousand, 10,000 people that all do that can make a lot of transformational change at large scale.
00:48:41
Speaker
With all that said, what suggestions would you have for teachers who teach at a more traditional environment or maybe even one that's a little bit more progressive, but not as progressive as this, who are doing this kind of work?
00:48:53
Speaker
They're hearing you're all like, yes, this is so awesome.
00:48:56
Speaker
What could they do within a classroom environment that could at least start to tackle this?
00:49:02
Speaker
I was actually recently asked this question because I was on a panel for some schools across the Northwest and a public school teacher asked me this and I was stumped.
00:49:13
Speaker
I was pretty stumped.
00:49:14
Speaker
I was like, a lot of what makes One Stone special is like we were talking about before, how student leadership is built into the foundation of our organization.
00:49:24
Speaker
But there are so many things that you can take from OneStone that I think can really enhance your students' learning.
00:49:32
Speaker
And I think my biggest suggestion would be to meet your students where they're at and to really get to know them as a person and not just who you see in class every day.
00:49:43
Speaker
And I think that's the biggest thing that really transformed my experience here and gave me a lot of empowerment and ownership in what I was doing.
00:49:52
Speaker
Thank you.
00:49:53
Speaker
Like my advice would be going back to what Ian said earlier about breaking the script.
00:49:58
Speaker
I think sometimes people get really comfortable and they feel really safe in a schedule and in something that dictates what you're doing and when.
00:50:08
Speaker
But that kind of, when I was in a more traditional setting, that made me feel like the schedule was more important than I was.
00:50:15
Speaker
And that they would rather keep to the schedule than, you know, talk about something for five minutes over.
00:50:21
Speaker
And so I think breaking the script and if something isn't working or the students just aren't into it that day, saying, whatever, like, okay, it's not working.
00:50:30
Speaker
Let's not do this day.
00:50:31
Speaker
Like, let's do something else.
00:50:32
Speaker
What do you guys think is going to help you?
00:50:34
Speaker
Do you want to go outside?
00:50:36
Speaker
And just having that
00:50:38
Speaker
fluid mindset and that growth mindset to just be like, okay, I'm going to meet my students where they're at.
00:50:45
Speaker
And if they're not at, let's write an essay for an hour today, then we won't write an essay for an hour today because their success and happiness and love for learning is more important than this schedule.
00:50:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:58
Speaker
I don't think in my, what was that?
00:51:01
Speaker
15 years of public education.
00:51:03
Speaker
I don't think I ever had one teacher genuinely asked me how it was doing.
00:51:07
Speaker
And like, ooh, like that's rough.
00:51:11
Speaker
At least once a day we have a call.
00:51:15
Speaker
And so even just like little things like, like pulling someone aside and like actually asking them, like, what do you think about what we're doing today?
00:51:23
Speaker
Or like, how are you doing?
00:51:25
Speaker
Like that does make a difference.
00:51:28
Speaker
And I was on the same panel Lila was on, and I was asked the exact same question too.
00:51:33
Speaker
And I said that I think it's really important for every teacher to really drive home the fact that failure isn't negative and failure isn't final, because that was something that coming to one-step was the biggest shift for me, was so much of my success in traditional school was like, hinged on that, like, if you are successful, you're going to go far.
00:51:55
Speaker
And if you fail once, like,
00:51:58
Speaker
that's end of the road, like no more.
00:52:01
Speaker
But as soon as I came to One Stone and people were like, failure is a growth experience.
00:52:05
Speaker
It sounds kind of cheesy, but it changed the whole way I looked at the world because I was like, you're so right.
00:52:10
Speaker
Like, this is incredible.
00:52:12
Speaker
And I feel like if I had had a teacher sit me down in public school when I maybe didn't do as well as I'd hoped I would on an assignment and be like, it's okay, this is going to help you grow.
00:52:21
Speaker
And here's why I would be like,
00:52:24
Speaker
whoa, I can apply this to everything else.
00:52:26
Speaker
So I feel like something small that every single teacher can do in their classroom is really enforce the fact that failure is good and that you should always be working to cultivate this growth mindset.
00:52:38
Speaker
I'd say something every classroom could do, we do portfolios.
00:52:43
Speaker
So at the end of every semester, we just take everything we've done and put it into a Google Sites presentation and we present it to a
00:52:50
Speaker
our mentor and our parents and we get we know we just have like a conversation about like what we did this semester how we felt about it what we learned how we grew how we failed and it's just I think that is something that every school could do it's like a parent teacher conference on steroids and it was honestly it's just incredible and I think that it's something that every classroom could do and it would be really impactful
00:53:14
Speaker
I want to acknowledge that, you know, teachers in all sorts of situations, in traditional spaces or progressive spaces, genuinely, if it doesn't come across, I think almost all of them genuinely care about the students they're working with and their success.
00:53:29
Speaker
A lot of times,
00:53:31
Speaker
We get caught up in other people's definitions of success, though, and in efforts to try to be rigorous and have students get to a particular place, we lose track of the individual power of those students and the creativity and the curiosity.
00:53:49
Speaker
And something that I've found to be a wonderful question is to ask myself, what decisions am I making for these students that they could be making for themselves?
00:54:00
Speaker
So asking that question and then acting on it in ways that are reasonable within your space and then continuing to cede power because it isn't about the teacher.
00:54:10
Speaker
That was, you know, adjustment for me moving into the space, even after being in some fairly progressive educational spaces before this to really step back and, you know, look at that sign when you walk in the building that says we believe in the power of students.
00:54:23
Speaker
To act on that means to, you know, reduce my ego, to be vulnerable, as you're describing, you know, to
00:54:30
Speaker
make mistakes and own those mistakes and just say, I don't have to be the expert on everything.
00:54:34
Speaker
All I can really do with you is show you how I pursue things that I don't know the answer to and how to be, you know, acting on my curiosity alongside you.
00:54:42
Speaker
Ian, Rhea, Lila, and Ella, and Jesse, thank you so much for joining us today.
00:54:47
Speaker
Is there anything else that you would want to add before we sign
Conclusion
00:54:50
Speaker
off?
00:54:50
Speaker
Any final thoughts?
00:54:51
Speaker
I love One Stone.
00:54:53
Speaker
I agree.
00:54:53
Speaker
One Stone is the best place ever.
00:54:56
Speaker
Thank you for doing this.
00:54:57
Speaker
We are people.
00:55:02
Speaker
Thank you again for listening to Human Restoration Project's podcast.
00:55:05
Speaker
I hope this conversation leaves you inspired and ready to push the progressive envelope of education.
00:55:09
Speaker
You can learn more about progressive education, support our cause, and stay tuned to this podcast and other updates on our website at humanrestorationproject.org.