6/15-6/21

From the Spark Studio

From Miss Anna After a year together, our heroes have grown to be great friends! They find so much joy in spending time together. We are lucky to be in an environment where we tailor our schedule to the heroes interests. Our interest this week has been FUN! 

Here’s just a sneak peak of some of my favorite moments: 

  • When we were working with a fountain experiment, heroes shrieked with laughter as they discovered how to make water spray all over the place. 
  • In place of turtle time this week (there is way too much energy here for that!), we listened to scary stories, as requested by the heroes. After each one, they chanted that it wasn’t scary enough. They loved them so much that they voted to keep listening to them while they worked on their father’s day gifts. 
  • And finally, in place of story time (because again, way too much energy!!), they chose to have a dance party instead. 

While we still got a few good work cycles on and accomplished some big goals, it has been great to enjoy these last few days together and be a little crazy just for the fun of it!

From the Fire Studio

From Kara I loved watching the heroes tackle fears and insecurities in the form of a big rock wall this week. So many pushed themselves beyond where they thought they could go and encouraged their fellow heroes along the way.

From JeVonne As the number of Core Skills opportunities dwindles, the focus accelerates. Beautiful learning is happening. A highlight moment was when a hero passed her math course challenge after 4 attempts. At the beginning of the year this hero took 30+ attempts to pass her course challenge for the previous year. Perhaps even better was the moment this hero recognized she had done this without a teacher! When responsible for her own learning she had learned math at such a deeper level!

Rock climbing was a huge highlight. It highlighted a few different strong points that this group of young people have developed. First, the heroes all took turns carrying the gear up to the climb. When the heroes who took their turns earlier reached the climbing area they were hot, sweaty and tired and sat down to rest. I mentioned to them that heroes still carrying the gear were struggling up the last hill. It was awesome to watch them (even though they were hot and very tired), jump to their feet and go help their fellow travelers finish the hike. They have developed a true desire to help one another.

Later as we sat and looked at the rock the majority of heroes (most of whom had never climbed) willingly admitted they were very scared. I was impressed by their willingness to be vulnerable. They have developed trust amongst one another.

Finally, as EVERY hero climbed up the wall at least once, I was so proud of them for their willingness to step out of their comfort zone and do something that they were afraid of. More importantly, was how they felt about themselves. They did something hard, they conquered a fear – and they enjoyed it!! Truly they are remarkable individuals who have come together and developed a tribe that challenges each other to reach higher in all senses of the word.

We are grateful we have one last week to delight in these heroes as individuals and a group!!