At the end of an All Ednovate Staff meeting last October, one of our teachers casually introduced and brought up four students up to the stage. With little urgency or fanfare, one plugged his electric guitar into his amp, another sat behind a drum set, and one of the students grabbed her mic in one hand while cooly pulling her hair back with the other hand. Our teacher announced that this was the first time that this group, Los Leones, was going to perform for an audience. Their debut performance was going to be in front of over 220 people! What an opening gig. 

One morning in late May of 2019, I sat down for my annual role as a panelist for our Positive Multigenerational Change (PMC) Capstones. This event could seem a little American Idol-ish as our seniors put months or years of work in front of their peers and community and are asked tough questions. For me, I try not to channel Simon Cowell and try to be more like Randy: positive and supportive.  

Here at Ednovate, we are so proud of all our students and our graduates. Our alumni in college provide a particularly inspiring voice for our team and students to remind us of the importance of the work we do on a daily basis. Additionally, we hope their wisdom can help inspire future high school students to look forward to what college holds in store for them.

It was Monday morning, Nov 25, 2013. Keep in mind that Ednovate - USC Hybrid High was 15 weeks into our turnaround efforts. That meant staff was working hard to rebuild systems and establish the right adult and student culture of our school.

When I was driving up on Friday morning, I couldn’t believe that my summer had already come to an end; summer had literally flown by. For me, move-in day began at 6am with my mom, two younger sisters, and a family friend who we had to pay to drive us. It would be a four hour drive up to Ithaca, New York: the trip that marked the first time my mom and sisters would see my new home.

It was day that took our students farther down the road to a great future, with an Ednovate school working as a team to create opportunities for our students.

When I first found out about personalized learning, I was intimidated. After all, I’m a teacher, not a techie. Personalized learning relies heavily on technology; students use a Chromebook that is assigned to them for the majority of their coursework. This was not my forte! However, once I saw it in action, I knew this was the type of teacher I wanted to become.