Session 6, Week 5
Look around at our heroes — really look — and you will see the future. Not some vague, distant future, but a vivid, close, unmistakable one. This week gave us glimpse after glimpse of exactly who these young people are becoming, and the picture couldn’t be clearer or more hopeful.
In the Spark Studio
It started with a handwritten note. One Spark learner pressed a piece of paper into a guide’s hand that read: “You’re the best guide. If you can’t do the thing you’ve been working on, don’t give up.”
Let that sink in for a moment. A child — learning about grit — turned around and taught it right back. That’s what happens when heroes internalize something real.
This week, Sparks wrapped up their physics unit with a deep dive into how scientists work: hypothesize, test, adjust, and never stop being curious. They explored magnetism, played with variables, and discovered the Earth’s own invisible magnetic field. And then, a few days later, a hero wandered up holding a book and said, “I think this is what we’ve been talking about.” He had found — on his own, buried in over 100 pages — a single paragraph about Earth’s magnetic field. He didn’t just find it. He read it. He connected it.
If you stepped into the Spark Studio right now, you would see heroes reading, doing math, building, creating — and having the absolute best time doing it. They are learning that mistakes aren’t the end of the road. They’re the road.
In the Fire Studio
All session long, heroes in the Fire Studio have been sitting with one big question: How do you measure your treasure? This week, they answered it in their own words. One hero counted how many times they laughed — measuring fun. Another tracked their progress on a Khan challenge and hit the threshold score — measuring growth. One counted beloved stuffed animals. Another earned a spot in the Final Grit Challenge — measuring the courage it took to get there. And the yearbook staff spent all session adding faces and memories to a book every hero can’t wait to hold in their hands.
The treasure, heroes agreed, isn’t the bead. The bead is just a token — a reminder of every banking term learned, every hard push through difficulty, every time they stepped outside their comfort zone. If you hadn’t done everything that went into completing the badge, the recognition wouldn’t be the treasure it is. Exactly right.
Weeks of preparation had led to BizTown. CEOs held business meetings and divided up their packets. Marketing plans were written. Financial documents were completed. And then heroes walked into JA City BizTown at Discovery Gateway and went straight to work — Delta Pilots in flight suits, delivery crews in uniforms, engineers in hard hats with clipboards. Heroes made advertisements, interviewed businesses on KSL, deposited paychecks, paid off business loans, and headed to college for pay incentives. When one hero asked where the jet was, another quickly clarified: they were “Respectable adults” — complete with finger quotations. Even when reality looked different than imagined, heroes adapted and jumped fully in. On the drive home, they talked about how ready they had felt — because of all the prep work, all the effort, all the challenges throughout the session. One observer at BizTown said it simply: “They are going to be awesome adults because they are learning how to run a business now.”
Heroes were also handed a challenge this week: create something and follow the rules — but the rules were never explained. They had to figure it out through trial and error. Not one hero shied away. Every single one leaned in, because that’s the skill that changes everything.
Some weeks have a single moment that captures everything. This week, it was the high dive. Heroes had qualified for the Final Grit Challenge swim trip all session long, and they earned every second of it. At the pool, several heroes climbed the ladder and jumped. Others climbed up, walked to the end of the board, looked down — and turned around. Then climbed back up. Each time, a little braver. Meanwhile, the heroes waiting in line were cheering. Not teasing. Not rushing. Cheering. When the 10-minute warning came, no one had to be told twice — one hero simply told another it was time to go, and they went. Just think of all these heroes going out into the world and creating a culture where everyone trusts each other.
When they got back to school, guides half-expected a race inside. Instead, they found boys and girls alike lying together in the studio, pretending to be asleep — competing to include each other. That’s the future we’re building.
Back in the studio on Thursday, families gathered to divide up the miniatures heroes had collected all session. Before trading started, there was a launch: What does “fair” actually mean? Does fair always mean equal? Tough conversations followed. Negotiations, trades, real decisions — and through all of it, not one tear or complaint. Maturity. Respect. The ability to sit with complexity and work through it with grace.
Heroes also ran their own Session 7 council elections this week — complete with speeches and secret ballots, boys in the Quest Studio and girls in the Core Studio. Guides stepped back. Heroes stepped up. Leadership growing from the inside out, exactly as it should.
In the Delta Studio
In the Delta Studio this week, one word kept coming up: courage. So many Delta heroes performed at the Gala, and with those performances came a string of remarkable firsts — first time on stage, first time sharing something they had poured themselves into, first time discovering that the thing you are most nervous about is often the thing that fills you up most.
Dancing was also a first for a few : )
Alongside the Gala, heroes dove deep into their passion projects, and the passion was real and visible. The energy, the pride, the joy of doing something that genuinely matters — it lit up the room. With courage like that, and passion to match, these young adults will go a long way.
The future is bright not because we hope it will be — but because we can already see it. In a handwritten note about not giving up. In a group of kids cheering a friend down the diving board. In businesses run with purpose and pride, council elections conducted with integrity, and a stage full of heroes doing something brave for the very first time. These heroes aren’t waiting for the future. They are already building it, one extraordinary week at a time.
CHOICE Microschool | Session 6, Week 5