Support for this program is provided by the Weldon F Osborn Foundation, the Sheldon Huskie Foundation, and viewers like you.

Thank you.

On today's show, we'll learn about two non-profits with unique approaches to education.

One focuses on conservation with community and youth development and engagement.

The other is a micro school committed to innovative teaching methods.

We're Stronger together.

Chattanooga, so stay tuned to learn more.

Now.

That.

Welcome to Chattanooga.

Stronger.

Together.

I'm Barbara mortar.

Maddy Myers Osbourne is our guest today.

She is a communication specialist at Lookout Mountain Conservancy.

The conservancy is committed to community centered conservation and environmental education.

And I'm pleased to have her here.

Welcome, Maddie.

Thank you so much for having me.

Oh, thank you for coming on the show.

let's talk about wh how the conservancy got started.

Absolutely.

It's a cool story, actually.

if you, remember John Wilso Park, it's one of our properties that was supposed to be, turne into a used car lot, actually.

And, we had someone say, nope, we're not having that happen.

Went to John Wilson, said, hey we really need you to conserve this land.

Now was our first three acres, and now we're up to 1500 of, conserved land, around Chattanooga.

So.

So what's your geographic footstep?

Yeah.

So we're in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, and we're primarily centered around Lookout Mountain.

That's so cool.

so if, if homeowners are looking to preserve their land maybe, a heritage or something they have, how could the Conservancy help them?

Absolutely.

We can advise them.

We can.

There's many way to conserve your land, for one.

there's conservation easements where you can have, us come onto your land and conserve it for you basin other basically allowing us to come onto your land and conserve it.

You can do that through trails.

if you're wanting to leave land, to the Conservancy just to take care of.

We can do that as well.

But we're really, super excited to have just conversations with homeowners to talk about that, so they can always reach out to us and we can talk about how we can conserve their land for them.

Ther there's so many different ways that we can do it, and it's going to be different for every homeowner and what they're comfortable with.

So is there like a lot size or acreage size that you're kind of looking at a location or anything like that?

we prefer to stay in and around lookout Mountain.

however, there's not really acreage sizes or anything like tha that we're super concerned with.

Our primary concern is really just the conservation aspect of everything.

And if you want to conserve your land for more than happy to help you do that, no matter how small or large your land is, preserving i for the future.

Exactly right.

Because we are losing all of our green spaces.

Yeah.

You know, homes are being built, industries coming in, and we're losing all of that.

And that's creating a lot of hot zones.

and building the temperature up and everything.

Exactly.

You lose less oxyge because the trees are the ones that provide all the oxygen and everything, too.

So, the one thing I want to get into is the, Howard School.

The students.

Absolutely.

That got started through a grant through the Tennessee American Water Company.

So tell us that story, how that happened?

Absolutely.

so the Tennessee American Water Company came to us, and they were essentially saying that, the Howard School students needed somewhere to go.

And, you know, students should have access to this land as well.

So, we take the Howard School students and, we invite them to come and kind of do a trial run on the property to see how they do, see how they work with our other interns, that sort of thing.

it requires recommendations from their teachers, and it's a pretty involved process.

But we're not as concerne about their grade point average whenever they come in, because that's another one of our big focuses is helping that the get that grade point average up.

So we do have that 100% graduation rat for the students in our program.

but they come in, they try out, and if they're accepted, we bring them on as paid interns.

and they start on the property, and they're welcome to stay with us throughout their high school careers.

Once they graduate, we continue to support them into college as well.

we, really try our hardes to make sure that our students who do end up going to college graduate debt free.

That' a really important thing for us because we want them to be abl to go on and be future leaders, especially in conservation, if that's the path that they'd like to go.

but if not, we' still we still want them to do the absolute best they can and not have to worry about what kind of financial stress that might put on them.

Yeah, well, I love the fact that, you know, there was a project that the Howard students wanted to do way back, test the drinking water.

And then, I think there was some runoff embankment.

And then that's how it is.

American kind of brought the two together.

And then that's been a happy marriage ever since, because I think, reading some statistics and stuff from your annual report.

So there are 62 high school graduates, a 100% graduation rate.

The students that come through you.

Like you said, you don't look at their GPA.

These are not going to be they're not going to be graduating.

That's the ones that you take are the ones that are not going to be graduating.

But you bring them in.

And I love the fact that, Robin, who's the founder, creator of it, the story she was telling me one time, because we've had a really long relationship with each other, was how there was one girl years ago that came through so much ange that nobody wanted to have any.

They were like, back in, away from her.

And you give the to.

You give these kids tools, you give them machetes and all this other stuff, whack all these weeds and cut down trees.

And yeah, so she gave her an ax and sent her to a tree and said, chop it.

And the kids were backing off and they're like, Miss Robin, are you crazy?

Just like I got to suck up.

And she said, I kind of felt that I was crazy, too, with the fact that that girl needed to vent and get all of that out.

And she actually ende up graduating from high school from Howard, and she went to the military.

She did?

Yeah.

And I love the fact that you guys that when they graduate, they're actually coming back in the summer and mentoring Yeah, it's it's amazing what you do.

It's so important for us t create that safe space for them.

Especially with Ozzy at that girl.

yeah.

You know, giving them the tools to one channel, those feelings that they might not have had the chance to, whether it's in their families or their home lives and things like that, we'r bringing them to the property.

We're creating a safe space for them to learn and grow.

Like the kid they're really supposed to be.

I mean, kids makes mistakes all the time, and we give them the space to do that and learn in a healthy and productive way.

And especially, like you mentioned, those mentors that are coming back.

They're examples of what the program can do for these kids, because it's really hard to trust outsiders sometimes.

Whenever you're coming into a program and people are saying oh, we want what's best for you, we're trying to do what's best for you.

but you can't always trust that because you might not trust, you know, the systems that we're in, etc.

and having those mentors come back and be there for those, for those kids is so important, especially because they're showing them, I did this, I came from the same place that you did.

You can do this too, and I'm going to help you get there.

and that's really special to see, especially, you know, how the kids learn to interact with each other.

We put a huge emphasis on teamwork as well.

where they're working in teams and, students who might be really quiet and they're not comfortabl talking or leading other people.

We put them into those leadership positions and we say, hey, you have to do this the best you can.

And they learn by doing and they gain confidence, through that.

And once they see a projec that becomes really successful and they, they were leading it and they maybe weren't confident about it at first, and then seeing them gain that confidence and especially their peers gai that confidence in them as well.

It's such a special thing to witness, truly.

Well, I know there's a there's a lot of hard work because they're cleaning out ditches and ravens and rerouting, you know, water streams and stuff like that.

And so the pride that they get when they see tha they've accomplished everything, but you've taken it even a step further.

Now you have a teaching garden and a greenhouse.

Yes.

Yeah.

And they're growing things from seeds.

They're selling things.

I think you have like to 1 or 2 plant sales a year.

It's on your website, but they're actually growing stuff, and then they're coming home and maybe setting up a small little garden at their house or at their grandmother's house or whatever.

so I love that part of it, too.

Yeah.

The teaching garden, especially, we've been having weekly lessons this summer.

This is something that we just started teaching them about what urban farming looks like, where farming came from, how important it is to see where your food is coming from, and that garden.

I think we have 300 food producing plants this year.

and the interns, you know, the saw that from start to finish.

They're doing that with their own hands.

And that's just one more thing for them to take pride in.

But then in addition to that, we provide lunch for the interns every day and every single day.

We're taking ingredients from the garden, and we're incorporating that into meals, and we're showing them how they can take, this food and turn it into something that's really delicious.

and then they're taking that food home to their families.

like you said, they're setting up their gardens, and their grandmothers and their parents houses.

and that's a really cool thing to see them again, take that initiative with their families, and they're bringing something home that they can be proud of as well.

How could our community get involved?

There's volunteers so many different ways.

this summer we had kind of standing volunteer sessions every Wednesday from 9 to 11 in the morning.

one of the projects that we're launching newly is our food forest.

it's kind of a more natural, version of a community garden that just blends into th landscape a little bit better.

And it doesn't quite require as much maintenance as garden beds.

so we have volunteer groups that come out.

You can just reach out to us and we can schedule a date and time.

our, day of caring is kin of an annual thing that we do.

I think we're going to have 250 employees from Unum come out really a lot of kudzu, a lot of cats do.

That's true.

But any company, any company, they could, if they wanted to have like a team building for their employees could come out and do some work.

Absolutely.

Yeah, it's a really great wa for one, you know, to break up the monotony of what you're doing every day at work, and then you start to get to know your coworkers a little bit bette by doing something hands on and really just getting your hands dirty.

It's a really special thing.

and we're always, always grateful for anyone who wants to reach out and volunteer so badly.

Thank you so much for coming in and sharing all about Howard School and the great things that are going on at the Conservancy, and if any of our viewers are interested in learning more, come to your website or just reach out to you.

Please do.

Thank you so much, Barbara, and welcome.

Up next, we'll have Rachel Goode, lead learner of Discovery Learners Academy.

You don't want to miss this.

So stay tuned.

We want to know how you serve your community.

Send us photos or videos of you or your family volunteering, and we may feature it on a future episode.

Email stronger@wtcitv.org or use the hashtag STRONGERWTCI on social media.

Welcome bac Rachel Good is joining us today.

She is the lead learne at Discovery Learners Academy.

This micro school is reimagining education with an innovative whole child model emphasizing creative proble solving and critical thinking.

Welcome, Rachel.

So glad to have you on the show today.

Thank you so much for having me.

So tell me, why did you start Discovery Learners Academy?

Your why I so I was a teacher and I, I knew I was going to be a teacher from very early on.

I resisted i for a little while, but I just I love teaching.

I love was too hard.

That's right.

I love the puzzle of trying to help a child understand something and then seeing that light bulb moment.

So in my high school years, I was at a K-12 school, and I worked with elementary kids who were struggling.

And it really got me hooked.

So I went to college, got my special education degree, and taught in the public school system where I thought I'd spend my whole career.

but in that time, I worked with a lot of different kids.

So special e can span a whole range of needs.

And.

And I taught in several different settings and actually, at the end of my career, I ended up teaching an enrichment course.

And what I found is in all of those settings, I was required to follow a very strict pacing guide, very strict regulations, and I wasn't able to fully meet each child where they were.

Because no matter where you are, whether you're special education or not, your children do not.

Development is not uniform.

It's not the same for every single person at a certain month and day.

You were just checking the boxes.

Yeah, and I was workin 1,000,000 hours trying to meet everybody's needs.

But the kids felt like they were failing.

I felt like I was failing and the kids felt like they were failing.

So we were all frustrated, and I tried really hard t change the system from within.

But it's a very big syste and I wasn't getting very far.

And then I had my first child.

And so like every parent, I started thinking, where am I going to send them to school?

And I thought, you know, what I see happening in schools is so different than, you know, humans innately learn.

My toddler was learning all the time and it was so joyful.

It was curiosity driven and there was so much joy.

There was no fear of failing.

It was just all, all learning.

So that really pushed me to find another answer.

And I talked to everybody who would listen.

Educators, community members.

And I kept saying, there has to be a way to work with development and teach kids how to think critically, which requires being able t have some tolerance for failure.

And growth requires that.

And to help them figure out who they are and let them be their best self, which is not going to be the same as the kid next to them.

Right?

And so in 2020, my husband said, are you going to talk about this forever?

Are you going to do it?

And I said, well, that's insane.

I don't start a school.

I mean, there's a lot to that besides just the education component.

And he said, what do you tell your students every day?

Aim high, fail big and try again.

He said well it's time to pu your money where your mouth is.

So we figured it out.

I failed a lot and asked a lot of questions and had a lot of help.

And now we're in our third year and yeah, lik where you're at now, you know I, I feel love start all over again.

That's I like that.

So the students that come to you.

How are they different from a student that's in, regular school that doesn't have emotional, physical or a mental supports?

so it's really interesting.

We didn't really know which kids would come or who would who would want this when we first were.

We're considering the idea.

other than I knew, of course I wanted my kids to go.

But what we found is that there's a lot of kids who don't thrive in traditional models, and there's a lot of reasons they don't thrive.

So we had kids who have, neurodiversity.

And about half of our kiddos are neurodiverse in some way.

So maybe they have autism or maybe they're ADHD or maybe, something along that spectrum.

But we also found we had a lot of kids who are gifted and bored, because they were still stuck in a curriculum and a whole lot of kids neurodiverse and neurotypical, who had, what I would call like a splintered profile in the sense that they're really high in one area and lower in another academic area.

So, you know, they're ready for skills that maybe a third or fourth grade leve in reading, but they need first grade skills in math or vice versa.

and the traditional school system, public or private, is just not set up to handle that.

And so you're stuck somewhere, a lot.

Also, we saw a lot of kids who have strong personalities and wanted more agency, who just were not happy with having to si and do a prescribed curriculum.

So kids who had a strong interest in a certain area, kids who are extremely artistic, also seem to do really well and and don't flourish in a traditional setting.

So what would a typical oh, well, first of all, instead of going to a typical classroom, let's talk about the age groups that you have right now.

Yeah.

So we have pre-K three through 12th grade.

Wow.

Yeah.

Go big or go home.

You grew really fast.

and what woul a typical classroom look like?

So there is no typical classroom.

Sorry.

You don't have to give me example of a classroom.

Yeah.

So in our studios, we have, 8 to 10 learners.

Until you get to middl or high school, then we have 12.

Okay.

so they're small ratios with one mentor and it's a community of learners.

And so in our pre-K and kindergarten, we hav you'll see, play based learning.

It looks like center is the closest thing I can think of that you would see mayb in a more traditional setting.

we call it minus Ori inspired.

We're not Montessori certified, but it is that idea of very hands on, very, foundational skills that is child led.

we have a play area with us, with sand and a water table and funnels and also ramps our our three year olds experiment with slope because they love to race cars.

And so they have adjustable ramps and they start to figure out really quickly how how that affects how fast their car goes.

So there's a lot of way to introduce academic concepts, but they're just playing withou realizing that they're learning.

Exactly.

I love that.

and we have built in play for all ages, all the way up through our 12t graders have two recesses a day.

The research is extremely clear.

You have to be able to move and play in order to learn.

and so, so all of our learners have two recesses a day.

And then in our elementary.

So starting at first grade through 12th grade, we have a reading block where all of our first year 12th graders are doing reading or Ela English skills, because that way they can move.

So we have a second grader who does pre-algebra, but because we teach it all at the same time, reading and math, each one of those is a block.

They're able to move as needed.

We have middle schoolers who do fifth grade reading or math, and it's there's a lot of fluidity.

And because we're small, we're able to to pivot really quickl as they need, and they love it.

In fact, we find there's not stigma attached to that.

It's just nice to be where where you are, where you need to be.

Right.

so our morning have those two academic blocks for elementary and secondary and those blocks will include, a combination of computer AI software that's adaptive.

So programs they can use that they can move as fast or slow as they need to, and it will accelerate them or drop them back to skills they need.

and then also more small group instruction where they're working with their mentor on new concepts.

and then our reading ha a heavy project component too.

So every other term learners get to choose what they want to stud and how they want to study it.

And they have these guides that they work through to to write about it and to present it in a way that's meaningful to them.

So they have lots of choice an agency, a lot more flexibility.

You'll see in all of our rooms, flexible seating, kids get up and move when they need to.

They go to the bathroom when they need to.

They eat when they're hungry.

they're not required to raise their hand and asked to get a tissue.

You know, they have a lot more agency.

They have calming zones where they can go if they just need to have a breather or a break, and then, we also giv them access to a lot of sensory options in our hallway for additional breaks.

Yeah So tell me about that hallway.

Yes.

Our hallway.

I love it because when you walk in, I feel like it just looks fun.

And school should be fun.

And you spend seven hours a day there 180 days a year.

Kids should be excited to get up and to want to go to school versus going home.

going to get up, you know?

Absolutely.

So the first thing you walk down our stairs, well, we have a slid actually to get into the school.

We do have stairs as well, but a lot of our kids slide into school and then is that fine?

I want to slide in.

we'll come on over and then, and then there's our sand and water play area.

And then as they come in the building, we have trampolines in our hallways.

We have a squeeze machine which we had a local foundation that partnered with us, to afford that.

But it's a fabulous tool that looks like, rollers on the top and bottom.

It looks like a pasta roller, but like human sized.

And you climb through i and you can choose the tension before you get in, and then you can choose which part of your body you put in it for, for that pressure.

And a lot of kids find that very relaxing and it allows them to really discharge stress, anger, big feelings.

So we have a stress.

So we have the squeeze machine, the trampolines that we have jumpers for.

We have a sit and spin that a lot of our littles will spin on.

and we have a sensory pathway that was custom made for us that looks like hopscotch.

And then there's twirling and all the different sensory input.

we have textures that they can touch.

We have prompts for the different breathing techniques we teach.

and even water tiles, like, a you push them, the water moves.

So lots of ways for them to have control over how they regulate their body.

Because as adults we do that.

I mean it may not look quite as cool, but we take a coffee break if we need it and we do or we take a minute to get water or we go plug our headphones in.

You know, there are ways to get.

So it's it seems silly tha we don't give that to children.

It's a reset as it is.

and you have a treehous that the kids actually designed?

Yes, on the playground.

So we do lots of project based learning, especially tied to our science and social studies.

and our first year, the kids, elementary kids did a unit on, ecosystems, and they were talking about how human construction can affect ecosystems and how we can be mindful of of the environment around u when we are designing a project.

And so they designed a treehouse that would be a net positive for the ecosystem and, that they could build.

And of course, we we got to pull in all kinds of math with the budget and with the, are and perimeter involved in that.

Now, their original design was about 20 years, and then they had said, okay we don't have a budget for that.

So we brought it down, but we worked with some local businesses that also helped us offset those cost.

And then we had about 22 volunteers come out and help them build it.

And just their faces and just the even the problem solving that day, as things don't always go according to pla when you're building something and the kids getting to be there and help iterate and figure out, okay, well, that didn't work.

So what will we do next?

And the joy, you know they had so much fun doing it.

And they were they're so proud of it still.

Yeah.

So are there other voluntee opportunities for our community?

Yes.

We love volunteers.

We have always have spots for guest readers.

our kids always love to have new people come and read to them.

we have volunteer opportunities for gardeners.

We have a couple of garden areas.

and for people who are willing to come speak about either your career or your hobby, we have a slot on Frida where we bring in guest speakers and it's so fu because you never know which kid is going to just hear something and be like, wow, I never even thought of that.

and so, you know, the weirder the better really.

So thank you so much for coming in, Rachel.

This has been such a joy to hear your heart in your passion.

And thank you for building Discovery Learners Academy for our our Chattanooga kids.

Thank you so much for having me.

And thank you for joining us today.

We hope Chattanooga's Stronger Together provides a new perspective for viewers like you who are looking to make a difference, so let us know what you think.

Email us at stronger at what tv.org or use the hashtag stronger WTC.

on social media.

I'm Barbara Marder and we'll see you next time.

Support for this program is provided by the Weldon F Osborn Foundation, the Sheldon Huskie Foundation, and viewers like you.

Thank you.

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