Imagine a high school design for the future. What does it look like?
It's a school that's engaging, relevant, flexible.
It mobilizes the latest technology giving each student the freedom to learn and develop with multiple paths to success.
It connects learning with the world through relevant applications and projects
while providing internships and opportunities in the community.
It encourages students to think for themselves,
to identify problems and assess solutions, to learn how to work independently and in teams,
ultimately coming to know themselves.
Finally, it teaches them how to adjust their thinking,
how to revise and deepen their understanding
so that they are comfortable and successful in a world filled with change and challenge.
Such a school will develop the next generation of leaders in science, art, engineering, and business.
Such students will be well positioned to create value and covering new ways of solving problems,
seeing potential and realizing new ideas.
And it is at the school of the future that our children in pursuing their dreams
move from being students to being leaders.
That's what the school of the future looks like.
We know because we built it.
Welcome to NGL Academy.
Learning best occurs through active exploration and deep inquiry.
NGL Academy is built around individuals who are guided through learning by experienced mentors
using a curriculum and methodology produced by the best minds in education.
Our learning platform, structured around inquiries called quests,
provides students with personalized learning pathways to develop the skills and knowledge they will need for success.
At NGL Academy, our learners are encouraged to observe the world,
follow their interests, and develop expertise.
They identify real problems and solve them using the tools they acquire through the quest curriculum.
At NGL Academy, we don't force everyone along the same mechanized path of memorizing facts
and testing them to see how well they take tests.
Instead, we restore the joy of individual discovery and exploration to learning.
How is this possible?
Let us show you an example of how students at NGL Academy work together to learn trigonometry.
I'm Jonas, and I'm interested in the history of technology,
especially how people build complex machines without modern tools and power sources.
I'll handle the research in the first part of the quest
and report on types of catapults used in the past, what each was used for and why.
I'm Teresa, and I like to think and work creatively.
NGL Academy really lets me light up my ideas.
I want to be one of the first people to live in space.
I'll help by calculating height and distance of the object to be thrown in our design,
so we can measure success.
I'm Angela, and I've been enjoying how engineering makes you think like a scientist about building things.
I'll take the lead on assessing materials for tensile strength and weight for our design.
I'll make a list of what we need for construction.
By working on quests both individually and in teams,
the students are encouraged to learn in ways that are engaging to them,
while also being pushed to discover new abilities and interests.
We take this approach because in this day and age, students can't just memorize facts.
These are readily available in any cell phone.
For success in education and work and in life, students need skills,
the ways of thinking and habits of mind that prepare them for whatever life may bring.
Most of all, they need the ability to continue to acquire new skills as the future continues to unfold.
Okay, team. In Robert Heinlein's novel, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,
he has a catapult on the moon that sends moon-grown wheat to Earth.
How would you change your design if it was on the moon?
We help our students forge their own paths through the available information to arrive at their own conclusions.
We help our students realize their dreams, but also to gain insight into themselves.
Developing their character, understanding what it means to be an active agent in a community,
and increasing self-knowledge, we know that with the right resources,
learners will challenge themselves and find their way to the education they need.
NGL Academy is a real school opening with its first class of students in fall 2017.
If you attend NGL Academy, one of the first questions we will ask you is,
who are you right now and who do you want to become?
And while you might not have the answer when you start the NGL Academy, we know that you will when you leave.
We want you to become the best version of yourself.
We invite you to come to our website and explore more of what we have to offer.
Education should do more than create good students.
It should inspire young people to lifelong learning, growth, and success.
