Getting Smart Podcast Bonus Episode - Helping Students Thrive in San Diego
Today the Getting Smart team is bringing you a bonus episode! Recently, they got the chance to interview a ton of great people at the recent iNACOL conference and want to bring it to you early as a little holiday gift this season.
In this special bonus episode, Tom interviews Nicole Assisi and Shelly Kurt of Thrive to talk all about how they are building community and doubling proficiency rates for children from low-income neighborhoods.
Nicole and Shelly originally met at a San Diego Starbucks five years ago and went on to create one of the nation’s most thoughtfully design K-12 networks serving diverse low-income neighborhoods — Thrive. From the first napkin of that fateful day, they outlined the key elements that make Thrive so special — project-based, personalized, and social-emotional learning. They wanted to create a place that helps develop good humans that solve problems with discernment, empathy, and agency — and they did. They picked two underserved neighborhoods in east San Diego, City Heights, and Linda Vista, and set to work combine all of these elements that make Thrive so special.
Key Takeaways:
[:15] About today’s bonus episode.
[1:27] Tom welcomes Nicole and Shelly to the podcast.
[1:45] About Nicole’s high school education and early career.
[2:21] Where Shelly grew up, her high school experience, and when she decided to pursue education as a career.
[3:01] The story of how Nicole and Shelly first met.
[5:01] The core teachings and transformative education Nicole and Shelly focus on at Thrive.
[6:09] Nicole discusses the underserved communities they decided to focus on in San Diego.
[8:16] Nicole and Shelly discuss their newly opened k-8 campus.
[9:01] How the new space compliments their program.
[11:50] Jessica takes a moment to explain a campaign Getting Smart is supporting this winter called ‘Share your Learning.’
[12:31] About the flexibility and functionality of their space.
[14:00] Shelly and Nicole discuss their project-based learning and social-emotional learning that they implement at Thrive, and how
[16:25] Nicole and Shelly describe their organizational learning.
[18:23] What else Nicolle and Shelly are doing to share their lessons outside of Thrive.
[20:49] Nicole and Shelly’s learnings about high school.
[22:16] Does Thrive have ambitions to grow a giant network?
[23:16] What Nicole and Shelly are most curious about right now and want to work towards.
[26:00] A big thanks to Nicole and Shelly for joining Tom this episode!
For More on Great Schools, Check Out:
Episode 88 — “Making the City the Text at High Tech High” with founder Larry Rosenstock, and
Episode 95 — “Leadership for School Progress with Poway Unified” with School District’s Superintendent and Principal from Design 39.
Mentioned in This Episode:
Next Generation Learning Challenges
Get Involved:
Check out the blog at GettingSmart.com.
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Is There Somebody You’ve Been Wanting to Learn From or a Topic You’d Like Covered?
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The Getting Smart team will be sure to add them to their list!