Session 5, Week 1
We are well over half way through our school year and yet as the heroes fill the building for another session it feels fresh, new and full of energy! What contributes to the feeling? Some of it may be that we’ve all enjoyed a week of rest and we are rejuvenated and ready for another sprint. Some of it may be we have missed each other and are excited to be back together. And some of it is because each session brings many new opportunities and adventures. So the curious question is, what is new this session?
In the Spark Studio the heroes will dive into “the ecosystem of a community”. We will learn about different niches and how they work together like a food web to create a community’s support system and economy. We are starting the session focused on habitat ecosystems and will later build on that foundation when we learn about communities. Even though we haven’t talked about communities yet, we have been strengthening our community in the studio.
This session our CHOICE work cycle challenges, will be squad challenges. One challenge this week was for each squad to stack cups into a pyramid while each person could only use the tip of one finger to touch the cups. Each cup and each hero represented part of an ecosystem. The teamwork and pyramid represented an ecosystem. And each squad was able to work together like an ecosystem.
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We had several opportunities to explore the diverse plant, animal, and nonliving components that work together in ecosystems.
One Highlight was observing baby quail! Much of the conversations around the aquarium focused on how much poop the quail produces, and how that can be composted to enrich the soil.
In the Fire Studio (and Middle School) a new session brings new squads and thus the opportunity to work with new heroes. New Squad Leaders, a new Council and a new Exhibition Committee bring new opportunities for leadership each session. Squad introductions are always fun!
The Fire Studio heroes started this new session exploring “swing,” a rowing phenomenon that occurs when all members of a crew team are moving so closely in sync that the work of propelling the shell “becomes a delight” -George Poecock. Heroes shared ways they are like a crew team, working together toward the shared goals of creating an inspiring learning environment and an encouraging tribe culture. We imagined what the best course of action would be for a crew team if one of the rowers stopped rowing or even involved other rowers in a distracting waterfight during training or the race, and how those scenarios apply to our Fire Studio team. Heroes discussed the value of the Moolah system they created and re-committed to being excellent allies and helpers to each other as they use the Moolah system to allow the whole team to work in “swing” toward their goals.
Between the holiday Monday, extra activities for the start of a new session, and the delayed schedule snow day, many heroes expressed excitement for next week so they can have more solid core skills time. There is excitment and energy about their learning goals!
Layla came to the Fire Studio this week to introduce their new quest.
Layla invited the Fire Studio heroes to participate in Shark Tank Boot Camp. Each hero has the opportunity to create a business idea. Business ideas will be pitched to the studio, after which the studio will vote on their favorite ideas. The heroes whose ideas receive the most votes will become the CEOs of a newly formed company. All other heroes will apply for a specific job in one of the companies. Throughout the quest companies will be exploring business ideas and creating a Shark Tank pitch to deliver at the Exhibition. There is also an individual component to the quest. Heroes will choose daily challenges from four different tracks: Leadership & Management, Finanace & Accounting, Marketing & Advertising, and Children’s Business Fair preparation. This quest gives heroes the opportunity to explore many aspects of business while finding and developing their unique gifts and passions.
In the Middle School we began with a House of Cards challenge to work with our new Running Partners. One hero whose Running Parner was gone, at first thought he would enjoy working alone, but before too long we heard the exclamation “I wish I had more hands to help me!” Running Partners provide the heroes the opportunity to consistently be accountable to one person. They provide the opportunity to learn to communicate with and work with another hero for an extended period time. We switch Running Partners every session.
Some partnerships were a natural fit – communicating well and working together patiently. Other partnerships found things a little more frustrating. During the debrief we explored what characteristics are most important in a Running Partner and how we can create better partnerships.
Middle School heroes took a tour of (enjoyed running all around) the new property as they were introduced to their new art challenge. Excitement and energy were high as they discussed how to renovate the old barn!
We also took a tour of the venue for the Comedy Night on Friday, March 24th; it can hold up to 600 people! Heroes were a mix of excited and nervous as they imagined performing in front of so many people. What a fun, new adventure!
And on the way home, they had the brilliant idea to do grit wherever they were when it was grit time. So we pulled over and enjoyed grit in a brand new place!
For quest this session, the middle schoolers have each been awarded an exclusive 6-week internship at “StellarTech,” a premier space technology company with cutting-edge developments in avionics engineering, rocketry, and extraterrestrial design. Heroes were welcomed to the internship with a meet – and – greet. Of course interns must dress professionally!
The purposes of the “paid” internship are to deepen understanding of the chemistry and mechanics of propulsion, to solve real propulsion and rocketry problems, and to use knowledge of extraterrestrial conditions and design principles to draft a detailed proposal for an off-earth research station—all while tackling interpersonal hurdles and working within a budget and strict timetable. They’ll look forward to sharing a rocket launch contest, presentations of their space station designs, and display of their research notebooks with guests at the exhibition. This week’s tasks included researching jobs and necessary qualifications for work at a real space company, meeting tight deadlines and keeping account ledgers, designing logos, and testing different chemical combinations for their ability to propel different objects.
Our intern-created logo:
Open jobs at SpaceX that interns explored qualifications for:
Research and chemistry challenges:
We ended this week receiving our new hero designed CHOICE t-shirts. Each studio designed their own shirt. It was so fun to watch them gather and pose as individual studios. (All missing heroes will be photoshopped into the pictures. We will share the photos with parents when that happens.)
Gathering together for a picture with all the heroes, brought bunny ears, funny faces, snowball fights, and lots of laughter as all the different personalities shown through. Some might even define it as chaos!
As I reflected on this short moment in time I realized that is another – and perhaps the most important – ingredient to our energy; the joy, personality and fun of each hero that is given the room to shine forth each day at CHOICE. It is the uniqueness and genius of each hero that comes together and creates the energy and beauty that is CHOICE. It is recipe that no chef could ever re-create!