Send Andrew to Harvard & Modern Schools
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Hello, I'm Andrew Lee. I am a Chinese-American, Arizona-native, and aerospace engineering-grad-turned-master-teacher (M.Ed.) who cares about our future generations and helping students achieve their dreams in life.
Problem: After revisiting the public school system (in which I was raised) as a math teacher in a Title 1 school... I quickly excelled in and loved teaching. I turned D students into A students. School-wide math averages were 60%. In my class, during my second year, they were 80-90%.
However, at the end of the day... who cares if I could help them understand that they can be good at math? They still graduate with little idea of how to succeed or what they even succeed in. College dropout rates are extremely high because high school does not prepare them for the level of self-directed learning that is required.
Students graduate unprepared for the ever-changing world as technology removes previous careers and college typically requires an extraordinary level of debt to be put onto an 18 year-old, who are still figuring themselves out.
Our current system is not designed for today's world. Numerous educational studies prove that the current educational system was designed to train people to become good factory workers during the era of Ford's automobile revolution and Carnegie's steel industries. That world does not exist anymore and our clunky, slow-to-change educational system has not kept up, not to mention the lack of social-emotional curriculum or financial knowledge.
Solution: A completely re-imagined high school that actually asks "Hey, what does your dream life look like and how do you want to contribute to the world?" and then follows up with "Okay, how do you get there? Let's help you figure it out."
The high school that I am creating will develop holistic, purpose-driven human beings who are on track for achieving their dreams and positively contribute to society based on their deepest self-determined purpose in life.
This includes passion projects and real-life internships where students are creating, producing, and synthesizing multidisciplinary concepts to make positive contributions to their communities and society (similar to Eagle Scout projects of Boy Scouts) WHILE IN SCHOOL, leading to a portfolio of work, projects, and even business experience that can be put into a resume.
And... maybe land that dream job without necessarily going to college. The most innovative companies are adapting their hiring practices to find great HUMAN BEINGS capable of cooperation and innovation. Not perfect resumes.
However, I realize college IS REQUIRED for SOME DREAMS, like maybe a doctor or engineer. And yes, this school includes College Preparedness, but in the most effective and time-efficient way possible. For example... Algebra 1, which typically take 1 full year, can be condensed into 4 months if taught the right way.
Other topics include: practical adult skills (like filing taxes or changing a tire), explorations about different career fields (to expand a student's awareness of possibilities) and creating new jobs to solve modern day problems (like the Uber driver), teamwork, life purpose discovery, goal-achievement, and social-emotional skills (such as interpersonal conflict and empathy).
What I have done so far:
- Quit engineering to teach in a Title 1 school
- Served as an Alumni Board Member with Teach for America
- Connected with countless innovative school leaders and founders
- Read numerous accepted AZ charter school applications
- Written 50+ pages about the ins and outs of the school
- Completed the Essentials Fellowship with 4.0 Schools
And now... I am in Atlanta, GA working at the Life School of Atlanta FOR FREE to learn the ins and outs of running a school, under the founding principal, Mikala Streeter.
How I got this opportunity is pretty interesting. In the Essentials Fellowship, you get assigned a mentor. My mentor happened to be Denise Streeter, Mikala's mom. She told me more about the school and it is the most closely aligned school to my own idea that I have found so far. After several donations, many email, text, and phone conversations...
On one call where I just planned to pick her brain she said "here's what I am prepared to offer... if you can make your way to Atlanta, I will be able to help you in the capacity you need for operations management and curriculum design, and mentor you for the next year you are back in AZ."
3 weeks later, here I am. I am here living off of my savings and I am at the point where I can no longer do this by myself.
"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
I am at that point. What I now need from YOU, my loving and supportive community, who cares about future generations of kids and humans in our home state and country... is to help further educate me and connect me to more leaders.
---
I need help to complete the Harvard Certificate of School Management and Leadership (CSML). Completing this program will further connect me to educational leaders, innovators, and thinkers to allow for this school to have an even more solid foundation than I am able to provide by myself.
There is a level of social proof too. When people see that I have 40K followers on Instagram for art, their perspective changes about me. It goes from "oh amateur artist" to "oh wow, this guy is legit and has put in the work."
Doing this will help me in that way. It will add to my resume, so that when the charter school directors are reviewing our application, when I am talking to investors, or when prospective parents see "Harvard" in my bio, their perspective changes. The conversation tone is different. And I am able to win more people to join our team.
The program is composed of 4 courses, that are $399 for the first course (until it's not) and $499 for the following 3. All 4 are required to complete the certificate program. Deadline to enroll is October 2, 2020.
https://online-learning.harvard.edu/course/certificate-school-management-and-leadership-csml?delta=0
$499 * 3 + $399 = $1896
The remaining portion of this fundraiser will be used to visit these schools:
https://onestone.org ID
https://www.davincischools.org CA
https://www.hightechhigh.org CA
https://www.newschool.edu NY
https://sudburyvalley.org MA
https://prendaschool.com AZ
https://www.heartwoodalc.org GA
https://www.theforest.school GA
https://academeatlanta.org GA
http://thelittlemiddleschool.com GA
As well as others that I discover along this journey.
AZ flight to Boise: $250
Lodging: $250
ATL flight to NY: $100
Lodging: $250
Gas Cost to Los Angeles: $60
Lodging: Free
Gas Cost to San Diego: $50
Lodging: $250
Sudbury Valley School (MA)
Flight from ATL to BOS: $150
Lodging (hopefully free)
Total cost: $3256
If in the case that some schools are unavailable for tours due to COVID-19, remaining funds ($1,360) will go into our Vita Schools of Innovation account to be used for:
- Charter Application Fee
- Non-Profit Filing (already in process)
- Marketing (I am now a wizard in Facebook ads and website creation to get real leads)
- School visits for when they do open back up
- School supplies and furniture
I will ensure that all donors be honored for their community contribution by having a place in the school where their names are permanently placed (wall with plaques - hopefully something way more creative - you know me. It will be look beautiful).
Overall, your contribution will open a world of connections and possibilities that I could not do on my own. Any amount helps immensely. I appreciate your love and support!
With love and gratitude,
-Andrew
Problem: After revisiting the public school system (in which I was raised) as a math teacher in a Title 1 school... I quickly excelled in and loved teaching. I turned D students into A students. School-wide math averages were 60%. In my class, during my second year, they were 80-90%.
However, at the end of the day... who cares if I could help them understand that they can be good at math? They still graduate with little idea of how to succeed or what they even succeed in. College dropout rates are extremely high because high school does not prepare them for the level of self-directed learning that is required.
Students graduate unprepared for the ever-changing world as technology removes previous careers and college typically requires an extraordinary level of debt to be put onto an 18 year-old, who are still figuring themselves out.
Our current system is not designed for today's world. Numerous educational studies prove that the current educational system was designed to train people to become good factory workers during the era of Ford's automobile revolution and Carnegie's steel industries. That world does not exist anymore and our clunky, slow-to-change educational system has not kept up, not to mention the lack of social-emotional curriculum or financial knowledge.
Solution: A completely re-imagined high school that actually asks "Hey, what does your dream life look like and how do you want to contribute to the world?" and then follows up with "Okay, how do you get there? Let's help you figure it out."
The high school that I am creating will develop holistic, purpose-driven human beings who are on track for achieving their dreams and positively contribute to society based on their deepest self-determined purpose in life.
This includes passion projects and real-life internships where students are creating, producing, and synthesizing multidisciplinary concepts to make positive contributions to their communities and society (similar to Eagle Scout projects of Boy Scouts) WHILE IN SCHOOL, leading to a portfolio of work, projects, and even business experience that can be put into a resume.
And... maybe land that dream job without necessarily going to college. The most innovative companies are adapting their hiring practices to find great HUMAN BEINGS capable of cooperation and innovation. Not perfect resumes.
However, I realize college IS REQUIRED for SOME DREAMS, like maybe a doctor or engineer. And yes, this school includes College Preparedness, but in the most effective and time-efficient way possible. For example... Algebra 1, which typically take 1 full year, can be condensed into 4 months if taught the right way.
Other topics include: practical adult skills (like filing taxes or changing a tire), explorations about different career fields (to expand a student's awareness of possibilities) and creating new jobs to solve modern day problems (like the Uber driver), teamwork, life purpose discovery, goal-achievement, and social-emotional skills (such as interpersonal conflict and empathy).
What I have done so far:
- Quit engineering to teach in a Title 1 school
- Served as an Alumni Board Member with Teach for America
- Connected with countless innovative school leaders and founders
- Read numerous accepted AZ charter school applications
- Written 50+ pages about the ins and outs of the school
- Completed the Essentials Fellowship with 4.0 Schools
And now... I am in Atlanta, GA working at the Life School of Atlanta FOR FREE to learn the ins and outs of running a school, under the founding principal, Mikala Streeter.
How I got this opportunity is pretty interesting. In the Essentials Fellowship, you get assigned a mentor. My mentor happened to be Denise Streeter, Mikala's mom. She told me more about the school and it is the most closely aligned school to my own idea that I have found so far. After several donations, many email, text, and phone conversations...
On one call where I just planned to pick her brain she said "here's what I am prepared to offer... if you can make your way to Atlanta, I will be able to help you in the capacity you need for operations management and curriculum design, and mentor you for the next year you are back in AZ."
3 weeks later, here I am. I am here living off of my savings and I am at the point where I can no longer do this by myself.
"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
I am at that point. What I now need from YOU, my loving and supportive community, who cares about future generations of kids and humans in our home state and country... is to help further educate me and connect me to more leaders.
---
I need help to complete the Harvard Certificate of School Management and Leadership (CSML). Completing this program will further connect me to educational leaders, innovators, and thinkers to allow for this school to have an even more solid foundation than I am able to provide by myself.
There is a level of social proof too. When people see that I have 40K followers on Instagram for art, their perspective changes about me. It goes from "oh amateur artist" to "oh wow, this guy is legit and has put in the work."
Doing this will help me in that way. It will add to my resume, so that when the charter school directors are reviewing our application, when I am talking to investors, or when prospective parents see "Harvard" in my bio, their perspective changes. The conversation tone is different. And I am able to win more people to join our team.
The program is composed of 4 courses, that are $399 for the first course (until it's not) and $499 for the following 3. All 4 are required to complete the certificate program. Deadline to enroll is October 2, 2020.
https://online-learning.harvard.edu/course/certificate-school-management-and-leadership-csml?delta=0
$499 * 3 + $399 = $1896
The remaining portion of this fundraiser will be used to visit these schools:
https://onestone.org ID
https://www.davincischools.org CA
https://www.hightechhigh.org CA
https://www.newschool.edu NY
https://sudburyvalley.org MA
https://prendaschool.com AZ
https://www.heartwoodalc.org GA
https://www.theforest.school GA
https://academeatlanta.org GA
http://thelittlemiddleschool.com GA
As well as others that I discover along this journey.
AZ flight to Boise: $250
Lodging: $250
ATL flight to NY: $100
Lodging: $250
Gas Cost to Los Angeles: $60
Lodging: Free
Gas Cost to San Diego: $50
Lodging: $250
Sudbury Valley School (MA)
Flight from ATL to BOS: $150
Lodging (hopefully free)
Total cost: $3256
If in the case that some schools are unavailable for tours due to COVID-19, remaining funds ($1,360) will go into our Vita Schools of Innovation account to be used for:
- Charter Application Fee
- Non-Profit Filing (already in process)
- Marketing (I am now a wizard in Facebook ads and website creation to get real leads)
- School visits for when they do open back up
- School supplies and furniture
I will ensure that all donors be honored for their community contribution by having a place in the school where their names are permanently placed (wall with plaques - hopefully something way more creative - you know me. It will be look beautiful).
Overall, your contribution will open a world of connections and possibilities that I could not do on my own. Any amount helps immensely. I appreciate your love and support!
With love and gratitude,
-Andrew
Organizer
Andrew Lee
Organizer
Phoenix, AZ