Rhegan McCall, a high school sophomore in Colorado, is today’s guest. Rhegan attends a private Jesuit school in which she enrolled just days before the start of high school, largely due to challenges her prior school was facing as a result of the pandemic.

Rhegan has had a deep understanding of school choice from a young age. From online learning pre-pandemic to choosing advancement pathways, Rhegan shows how students are picking up on alternative forms of education from the zeitgeist and championing choice within their schools.

In her conversation with Future of School CEO Amy Valentine, Rhegan talks about how quickly she had to change not only her school but also her expectations for high school. Although the transition was difficult, she found a place for advocacy and leadership in her new school, opening a conversation for herself and other students to explore alternative education paths.

Rhegan discusses her wish for more choice in her schooling, particularly the ability to graduate early. In attempting to graduate early, she lays a clear argument for how students have more choice in their education path. “This could be a good thing. This could help your institution and give individuals and students another way to education…” says Rhegan, “... I feel that it’s something a lot of people want to do but don’t know how to do. If educators could help students, that could be very beneficial.”

In exploring her options outside of a traditional classroom and education path, Rhegan believes that student self-advocacy and educator collaboration are essential. The change she wants to see is choice within the school and how much students should have control of their education. She believes that open and transparent communication with support networks like parents, teachers, and administrators is a way for students to explore options and uphold the kind of education they want to receive.

Future of School: The Podcast is hosted by Amy Valentine, CEO and Education Evangelist for Future of School. Subscribe to hear more Students Speak episodes along with upcoming series from Future of School. Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school, follow Amy @amyvalentine555, and learn more on our website: www.futureof.school

National School Choice Week is a not-for-profit, charitable effort to raise awareness of effective K–12 education options for children. NSCW focuses equally on traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschools. Participate in the conversation by following @schoolchoicewk on Twitter and using the hashtag #schoolchoiceweek. Learn more at https://schoolchoiceweek.com

When students speak, the education world must stop and listen. Welcome to the “Students Speak” series on Future of School: The Podcast, presented in partnership with National School Choice Week.

Courtney Stevens is today’s guest. Courtney is a first-year student at Front Range Community College: Larimer Campus in Fort Collins, Colorado. She also did concurrent enrollment at the college while she was in high school.

Courtney began taking online classes as a high school senior as a result of the pandemic and found that she liked them as much as she enjoyed her in-person courses. She now takes classes online as well as in-person.

At first, the less structured schedule of online schooling felt challenging, but within a month Courtney adjusted. She also experienced more reading and writing in online classes due to the different structure, but found she adapted to this quickly, as well. Not only did she feel much more safe taking class online during the pandemic, but she also realized it was a great way to learn.

Classmates who remained in the traditional school were curious about the flexible schedule that enabled Courtney to take morning Tae Kwon Do classes and do Crossfit in the afternoon. She explained that online learning gave her control over her schedule, and she found this to be an important benefit.

When asked about some of the skills she developed most after transitioning to online learning, Courtney says, “I feel like I really cultivated my reading and writing skills... Even just looking at the stuff I wrote during my junior year compared to now, my writing has improved significantly.”

Future of School: The Podcast is hosted by Amy Valentine, CEO and Education Evangelist for Future of School. Subscribe to hear more Students Speak episodes along with upcoming series from Future of School. Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school, follow Amy @amyvalentine555, and learn more on our website: www.futureof.school

National School Choice Week is a not-for-profit, charitable effort to raise awareness of effective K–12 education options for children. NSCW focuses equally on traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschools. Participate in the conversation by following @schoolchoicewk on Twitter and using the hashtag #schoolchoiceweek. Learn more at https://schoolchoiceweek.com

When students speak, the education world must stop and listen. Welcome to the “Students Speak” series on Future of School: The Podcast, presented in partnership with National School Choice Week.

Oam Patel is today’s guest. Oam is a graduate of Mountain Home High School in Mountain Home, Idaho, a small rural town, and a first-year student at Harvard University.

In ninth grade, he spoke with a cousin in Houston and learned about the variety of courses that were available in his cousin’s school. From this, Oam realized that online courses could provide access to numerous subjects even if they weren’t offered at his small school. He began to take some courses that summer which were supported by the Idaho Digital Learning Academy, the state-sponsored online school serving the entire state of Idaho.

From there, Oam continued to use online learning to augment his in-person courses. He accessed some history and computer science courses that weren’t available in his school and learned a lot more about his interests (he determined he’s not a history buff, but was encouraged to take some computer science classes in college).

Reflecting on what would be different if he’d never learned about online options, he says, “I think I’d be a little more closed-minded in my academics. I wouldn’t know about certain subjects that I really enjoy now. I wouldn’t have explored opportunities that I’m very glad I’ve taken.”

Future of School: The Podcast is hosted by Amy Valentine, CEO and Education Evangelist for Future of School. Subscribe to hear more Students Speak episodes along with upcoming series from Future of School. Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school, follow Amy @amyvalentine555, and learn more on our website: www.futureof.school

National School Choice Week is a not-for-profit, charitable effort to raise awareness of effective K–12 education options for children. NSCW focuses equally on traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschools. Participate in the conversation by following @schoolchoicewk on Twitter and using the hashtag #schoolchoiceweek. Learn more at https://schoolchoiceweek.com

When students speak, the education world must stop and listen. Welcome to the “Students Speak” series on Future of School: The Podcast, presented in partnership with National School Choice Week.

Anna Maria Iaramboykov, a graduate of Radnor High School in Pennsylvania and second-year international college student in the UK at the University of Oxford, is today’s guest.

Anna Maria took her first online class early in high school. She was curious about different subjects and wanted to expand her learning, so she searched for online courses and found some through the FutureLearn platform. She began with a filmmaking class (her first-ever experience with the topic) and learned how animators used handmade models, dealt with problems they’d encounter, and more. She later took a forensic investigation class. Anna Maria’s mom helped her search for courses, but she was entirely self-directed in determining what to seek.

“A lot of students…want to learn more than the fields that are taught at school,” she says. “Instead of seeing it as a limitation, students can see it as an opportunity to make their own choices about what they want to learn.”

When she reflects on her university studies and how things might be different if she’d never had choice in high school, she says, “I would probably be a bit more unsure of what I wanted to study, what I’m interested in. I attribute that to the fact that I was able to explore so many things during my high school years, both through my high school and online classes.”

When asked for her message to those who might want the education system to “go back to normal” post-pandemic, or who are not yet embracing online and blended learning, she encourages them to see technology as a way to progress the educational system and enhance the way students learn.

Future of School: The Podcast is hosted by Amy Valentine, CEO and Education Evangelist for Future of School. Subscribe to hear more Students Speak episodes along with upcoming series from Future of School. Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school, follow Amy @amyvalentine555, and learn more on our website: www.futureof.school

National School Choice Week is a not-for-profit, charitable effort to raise awareness of effective K–12 education options for children. NSCW focuses equally on traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschools. Participate in the conversation by following @schoolchoicewk on Twitter and using the hashtag #schoolchoiceweek. Learn more at https://schoolchoiceweek.com

When students speak, the education world must stop and listen. Welcome to the “Students Speak” series on Future of School: The Podcast, presented in partnership with National School Choice Week.

Sahil Pontula, a Physics major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is today’s guest. Sahil speaks with Amy Valentine, Future of School’s CEO and Education Evangelist.

Sahil first experienced online learning in middle school. He attended a traditional public school, but became interested in Latin, a class that wasn’t offered in his school, after visiting some archaeological ruins with his family. He was able to take the Latin class online without switching schools and later also took environmental science online, which fulfilled a requirement for high school ahead of time.

After he entered high school, Sahil continued to take some classes online in addition to his in-person learning. His high school has a partnership with the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, a public residential high school that is part of the University of North Carolina system, which gave access to many different courses.

In his senior year the pandemic hit, and his traditional classes also transitioned online. Sahil observed the difference in this “crisis schooling,” when schools weren’t yet prepared to take certain courses online, in contrast with the online courses he’d taken for many years.

Reflecting on his experience in middle and high school, and where he is now, Sahil says, “I’d really be limited in the avenues I’d be exploring now” if he hadn’t had options in his learning. He is a big believer in the in-person interaction of traditional courses, especially with lab classes when it’s particularly valuable to speak with instructors directly, and also expresses the importance of online learning as an option to open up many different pathways.

Subscribe to hear more Students Speak episodes along with upcoming series from Future of School. Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school, follow Amy Valentine @amyvalentine555, and learn more on our website: www.futureof.school

National School Choice Week is a not-for-profit, charitable effort to raise awareness of effective K–12 education options for children. NSCW focuses equally on traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschools. Participate in the conversation by following @schoolchoicewk on Twitter and using the hashtag #schoolchoiceweek. Learn more at https://schoolchoiceweek.com

When students speak, the education world must stop and listen. Welcome to the “Students Speak” series on Future of School: The Podcast, presented in partnership with National School Choice Week.

Jazy Manoukian, a second-year student at Patrick Henry College in Virginia, is today’s guest. She speaks with Amy Valentine, Future of School’s CEO and Education Evangelist.

From K-12, Jazy attended a small Christian school, and in fact graduated in a class of only three students. The school provided flexible options for all learners that present an effective illustration of choice in the classroom. Among other benefits, Jazy says the small class size enabled more one-on-one support from teachers and gave students the opportunity to work at their own pace.

She observed the power of specialized and personalized education for each learner. Jazy always pushed herself to try new and challenging courses, and having options in her education allowed her to do so. She also had peers who needed a slow pace, at least in some subject areas, and personalized tracks provided those students with the right support to succeed.

“By making everybody learn the exact same way, I think you’re really disadvantaging a lot of students,” Jazy says, when asked about the risks when schools don’t provide students with choices in their learning. This goes both for the students who want to accelerate and those who need to slow their pace a little bit in order to master the content.

Based on her experience in school, Jazy advocates for a hybrid learning model that includes both online instruction along with in-person learning, which she believes provides a richer, well-rounded experience and strong student-teacher relationships.

Subscribe to hear more Students Speak episodes along with upcoming series from Future of School. Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school, follow Amy Valentine @amyvalentine555, and learn more on our website: www.futureof.school

National School Choice Week is a not-for-profit, charitable effort to raise awareness of effective K–12 education options for children. NSCW focuses equally on traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschools. Participate in the conversation by following @schoolchoicewk on Twitter and using the hashtag #schoolchoiceweek. Learn more at https://schoolchoiceweek.com

When students speak, the education world must stop and listen. Welcome to the “Students Speak” series on Future of School: The Podcast, presented in partnership with National School Choice Week.

Isaac Steinmeyer, a first-year student at The College of Wooster in Ohio, is today’s guest. Isaac is interviewed by Amy Valentine, Future of School’s CEO and Education Evangelist.

“It helps you to become more passionate about what you’re learning,” says Isaac when asked about the benefit of students having agency and choice in their own education. He first began taking some online classes in middle school and found completely new interests, from history to world languages like French and Russian. He also used resources like Khan Academy for online learning. Reflecting on what choice has meant for him, Isaac realizes he’d be bored and less engaged with his learning if he didn’t have the opportunity to pursue these passions.

Isaac was a homeschool student for a number of years and felt he had a good idea of the options available in education. But when he was in middle school and researched the variety of choices out there, he was “absolutely astonished” by everything that was available. He says it’s important for all students and families to learn about the options they can pursue.

By his junior year of high school, Isaac signed up for a few college classes and took a microeconomics class online which was recommended by his mother and his school’s guidance counselor. It was an academic leap but exposed him to new, interesting content. Thanks to information and support from his local school district, Isaac found yet another subject he enjoyed.

Now in college, Isaac has the option to take hundreds of classes fully online, or to choose to take an in-person class remotely. He’s currently taking a blend of online and in-person classes. He encourages students to become familiar with all the options available to them and determine what is the best fit so they can become their own advocates.

Subscribe to hear more Students Speak episodes along with upcoming series from Future of School. Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school, follow Amy Valentine @amyvalentine555, and learn more on our website: www.futureof.school

National School Choice Week is a not-for-profit, charitable effort to raise awareness of effective K–12 education options for children. NSCW focuses equally on traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschools. Participate in the conversation by following @schoolchoicewk on Twitter and using the hashtag #schoolchoiceweek. Learn more at https://schoolchoiceweek.com

When students speak, the education world must stop and listen. That’s the exciting opportunity we’re presenting in the newest season of Future of School: The Podcast, in which you’ll hear diverse perspectives from a number of learners whose experiences in school and their lifelong trajectories have been transformed for the better as a result of the choices they made with respect to interesting educational options. Future of School is pleased to present the Students Speak series in partnership with National School Choice Week.

The series is hosted by Amy Valentine, Future of School’s CEO and Education Evangelist. In the first episode, we hear from Satara Ehnes, a graduate of the Julesberg School District in Colorado and current student at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

Julesberg is a small rural district of fewer than 900 students, positioned just minutes from the Nebraska border. Despite the district’s small size and remote location, students have abundant opportunity to pursue their goals due to an administration that prioritizes students’ individual objectives and strategically utilizes technology.

In Satara’s case, she determined early on that she would like to pursue a medical degree, but was also aware of the time and cost associated with such a path. Through partnerships, the district made it possible for her to graduate high school with an Associate’s Degree, putting her well ahead by the time she entered a four-year university, and she is now nearing graduation and planning for medical school. Further, Satara is an advocate for the benefits of a well-rounded education that exposes students to real-world opportunities:

“I didn’t just learn how to read and write. I learned how to be a leader. I learned to take responsibility. I learned time management. So when I did make the transition from being in high school, living with my parents, being involved in all the extracurricular activities to the vast realities of being a young adult .. I think that really eased the transition.”

Subscribe to hear more Students Speak episodes along with upcoming series from Future of School. Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school, follow Amy Valentine @amyvalentine555, and learn more on our website: www.futureof.school

National School Choice Week is a not-for-profit, charitable effort to raise awareness of effective K–12 education options for children. NSCW focuses equally on traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschools. Participate in the conversation by following @schoolchoicewk on Twitter and using the hashtag #schoolchoiceweek. Learn more at https://schoolchoiceweek.com

If you could share One Big Idea to change the future of education, what would it be?

In this special episode of Future of School’s One Big Idea series, our guest is Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week (NSCW), the largest public awareness effort in the U.S. focusing on opportunity in K-12 education. With the goal of informing parents of their school choice options, Andrew and the NSCW team work with more than 25,000 schools annually—along with thousands of organizations and homeschooling groups. Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewrcamp

National School Choice Week is held every January and in 2022 will take place from January 23-29. Learn more at https://schoolchoiceweek.com

Andrew shares his big idea advocating for kindness, compassion and understanding in our K-12 education conversations. He asserts that each individual who has a role in the education system, whether a student, parent, educator or anyone else, has a unique perspective on the system, the role of schools, and the opportunities that will best suit their needs, strengths, and interests. In response to this big idea,  Amy Valentine, Future of School CEO and host of the podcast, adds, “We owe it to our children to build an education system that honors their uniqueness.”

Andrew explains further that a harsh, confrontational tone is rarely effective at “moving the ball forward” with respect to choice in education. We must maintain or, if necessary, reinsert the humanity into our conversations in order to recognize and realize the true value of personalized, individualized choice and opportunity for all students and families.

What’s your One Big Idea to transform education? Connect with us on social media or on our website, www.futureof.school, to share! Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school and follow Amy Valentine @amyvalentine555. And participate in the National School Choice Week conversation, including the opportunity to view new original content from Future of School, by using the Twitter hashtags #schoolchoice and #schoolchoiceweek

Learn more about Future of School and its mission to mobilize change in American K-12 education from a one-size-fits-all system to one that ensures all students reach their unbounded potential no matter where their learning takes place at www.futureof.school.

If you could share One Big Idea to change the future of education, what would it be?

In the 16th episode of Future of School’s One Big Idea series, our guest is Justina Nixon-Saintil, Vice President of Communications and Global Corporate Social Responsibility at IBM. Among other initiatives, Justina leads a variety of programs that leverage multi sector partnerships to help create more inclusive and innovative schools and workforce.

Justina shares her big idea that retraining through upskilling is a viable alternative to traditional education. She explains how, especially over the course of the pandemic, a high percentage of workers have decided to pursue continuing education and change careers. Providing more options for reskilling and upskilling programs as an alternative to traditional university degrees is an effective way to increase access to high-quality retraining and new career options. Justina explains how these programs can advance equity and how various stakeholders in the industry can get involved.

What’s your One Big Idea to transform education? Connect with us on social media or on our website, www.futureof.school, to share! Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school and follow Amy Valentine @amyvalentine555.

Learn more about Future of School and its mission to mobilize change in American K-12 education from a one-size-fits-all system to one that ensures all students reach their unbounded potential no matter where their learning takes place at www.futureof.school.