Hello Friends,

We are three weeks into the new year, and the holidays already seem like a million years ago. We have so much to update you on! We started the year by hosting our third Pioneer Lab Training in Atlanta, with 67 incredible pioneers, representing 14 learning environments and efforts, from all over the country. What made this training unique was the number of young learners we had participating: 14. You can read one of those young learner’s reflections on the experience in this issue.

Another exciting update for this month: We hope you join us in welcoming three new pioneers to our team. Trace Pickering, the former Assistant Superintendent from Cedar Rapids, IA and co-founder of Iowa BIG—a learner-centered environment in Cedar Rapids—is now our Associate Director of Practitioner Engagement and Learning. Lindsy Ogawa, a former Special Education teacher in Chicago Public Schools, joins us as our new Outreach and Research Associate. Last, but certainly not least, Neel Pujar, a student at University of California, San Diego and a member of the founding design team for Design39Campus in San Diego, is our new Fellow, supporting the SparkHouse community of young learners.

Finally, if you haven’t already, check out our new website! Monica Snellings and Paul Haluszczak took the lead in making this a resource for the community and a place for people to dive into what learner-centered education is all about.

To all those committed to making learner-centered education available to all learners, we hope that you find a home in the growing Education Reimagined community. Please share your feedback on the website, recommend learning environments that we should know about, share your own stories with us, and share Pioneering with your community and friends.

Enjoy this issue of Pioneering!

Kelly Young