There is a chasm opening under our feet...

...and the distance between Aim Academy and the rest of the world increases by the day. During no time has this truth been more evident than this week. 

The values of Aim Academy are truly different from those of the world. I notice this all the time when we accept new eagles who have already spent some time in the public school system. There, the currency of social capital is not caring, making fun of things, being disengaged, building yourself up while bringing others down, etc. Those are the types of behaviors that can further your social status among your peers in that environment. It's always a bit of a culture shock when those eagles arrive at AIm and realize that those behaviors produce the opposite effect among our tribe. "Wait, you guys actually value hard work? Putting your hearts into things? And kindness? Weird..."

Additionally, there are several other behaviors that run rampant in public schools that I would categorize as all stemming from a victim mindset. At Aim we talk about the victim mindset as a state in which an individual consistently perceives themselves as the victim of circumstances, actions of others, or the environment, without recognizing their own role in the undesirable outcome, or their power and responsibility to change their situation. The victim mindset is characterized by a focus on grievances, a tendency to blame external factors for one’s difficulties, and a feeling of powerlessness or lack of control over one’s life. "Wait a minute...you're not buying my excuses? You guys actually expect me to have the humility to recognize my mistakes and make a plan to fix them? That is SO weird..."

Now, before I get to the punchline, let me backup to provide some context on the changes we implemented this session that...

The task is a little overwhelming as it is one of the experiences at Aim where words will struggle to convey the full depth of its significance. Which is why, knowing the realities of communication between parents and children, I will make an attempt...so here we go. 

This is a story of belonging. 

In the first year of Aim Academy, there were five families and ten learners. That was a MUCH smaller group than I originally anticipated opening the school with. I have grown several education start-ups in my career and was planning on launching with at least 30 learners. I had begun buying small businesses a few years prior to launching Aim--most in the early childhood learning space--and had a lot of lucky success growing enrollments in them by significant amounts. I figured I would just do the same thing at Aim. 

But due to an experience I had early on in the recruiting process, I realized Aim was different from any of my other businesses. I raised the threshold in my mind of what an ideal founding member of Aim Academy should look like and began turning away most of the applicants who applied (a trend that has only increased since then). Sometimes I play the 'what if?" game and ponder on what would have happened if I hadn't changed course back then...and all I can say is I am grateful beyond words that God saw what I could not. 

There is a reason that those founding eagles talk about that first year with such fondness DESPITE the fact that our quests are now far superior than they were back then, our systems work better, there are more eagles to be friends with, they are better at teaching themselves now, we've added things like skiing, rock climbing, Odyssey, etc. 

The reason is that the feel of that first year could only be described as family. 

What else could be the result of such a small group setting off on a hero's journey together? 

Now fast forward through all of the intervening sessions since then until today. Aim went through a lot of necessary changes. We HAD to split into different studios to figure out what each one needed (and believe me, as someone who has guided each of them, they each need drastically different approaches to just about everything). The eagles needed the internal changes each of these shifts brought as well. And we guides needed to understand the things that each new shift taught us. In other words, I think that if we had tried the change we made this session even one session earlier, it would have failed. 

The change I am talking about, of course, is the decision to divide our learners into three houses of full-blown K-12 mixed-ages. Each with a guide assigned specifically to them. Each with a house hero, mentorship, a space dedicated to them where they can laugh and play and work together. Each with autonomy and a unique subculture within the broader one of Aim. Each with a new purpose and vision to unite behind--which is presently to produce the best play at the school and win the House Cup. 

Can you see where I am going with this? 

Each of these houses is currently in week 4 of the process of replicating what we experienced in Year 1.  Three mini-Aims :) And it is something to behold. A united house of this nature helps facilitate every single other thing that occurs at Aim. 

Including, it turns out, accountability. 

Accompanying this change in house organization, came the introduction of School Council 2.0 (something we experimented with in earlier years, but something that never quite found its mark since the eagles were still siloed by studio). In only a few short weeks, the School Council has already successfully raised the bar on Aim's standard of excellence in many categories, including accountability through the introduction of a new school-wide accountability system--a system so thoughtfully and thoroughly vetted by these young learners that it addresses many of the gaps that all previous accountability systems have never been able to. 

(Side note, after you get your strength back from finishing this email...please check out this post on accountability and the School Council. It will likely help you navigate a conversation or two with your learners in the future.)

So...now tying these two ideas together. 

When the standards at any organization rise, there is really only one choice. You can rise with them or be left behind. Frankly, this is nothing new for Aim Academy. Our journey has been one of perpetual growth. But every once in a while, there is a giant leap forward. And sometimes that can make 'the moment of truth' a little easier to see. 

Aside from families moving away, Aim has retained all eagles that are the right fit for this model. If that reminds you of something I love which Jeff Sandefer frequently says--The customer is always right...but we get to choose our customers--l would not be surprised. What might surprise you is that I am actually quite certain that Aim could retain 100% of all eagles, good or bad fit, that have ever been admitted to the school. Just as Aim could be 5-7x bigger than it currently is. But at what cost? A compromise here. A lowering of standards there. A tailor-made decision that gives preferential treatment here. And soon Aim is like the rest of the world. I guess perhaps that's why occasionally I have put families on a Probationary Contract to help them see that widening chasm under their feet as that distance between Aim Academy and the rest of the world increases. Each of our community's families has already made the decision once about where we stand on this issue. I suppose we will have to do so again and again and again. 

We recently had an owner of another Acton come tour our campus. She had toured one of the flagship Acton campuses the week prior, and saw things that she was very uncomfortable with. To help her make sense of what she saw, she reduced all of her questions into this clarifying one, "If I were a parent in this area, would I send my kids to this school?" She said the answer was a very clear 'no'. She wanted to see another campus to "get some hope" as she put it. So she reached out to me.

She was nearly in tears at one point of the visit. And she left inspired. 

I'm not surprised...because these eagles inspire me almost every single day. We landed after a grueling day of emotions on Monday by sitting in a circle and listening to what has become a very meaningful song for our eagles (it was played at a pivotal moment of change last year, and then again during the songwriting quest later in the year). There's a line in it that says, "Well, I've been afraid of changin', 'Cause I've built my life around you."  

Afterwards, I asked a few eagles, "Is this your tribe?" The obvious answer came back, "Yes." I followed up with a slightly more difficult question, "How do you know?" The responses to this question brought moist eyes to most of the group.

"It's hard to say...but I can feel it in my heart."

Even among a network of unique and special schools, we really have something unique and special. 

There's one other lyric from the song, "Can I handle the seasons of my life?"

I can see as clear as day that Aim is entering the best season of its life right now.