Garrett Smiley - The School of the Future

<p>Garrett Smiley is the Co-Founder of Sora Schools, an education startup based in Atlanta. Sora is a virtual, project-based high school where students explore their interests, learn however is best for them, and gain exposure to future careers and fields of work</p> <p>Prior to Sora, Garrett co-founded a charity which built wells in developing nations called Drops of Love. Garret also directed a university startup incubator called Core Founders at Georgia Tech, and started an education non-profit that worked with foster children to develop financial literacy called Flip. Garrett studied Computer Science at Georgia Tech. Garrett also worked as a Venture Partner at Contrary Capital where he scouted, invested in, and mentored startups in the Atlanta area</p> <p><strong>Key Takeaways:</strong></p> <p>00:21 What’s your Elevator Pitch?</p> <p>00:58 What’s your Origin Story?</p> <p>07:54 All About Sora Schools</p> <p>14:15 What are your typical students there?</p> <p>15:42 What’s the application and first day like in Sora?</p> <p>19:32 Requirements in order to graduate from Sora</p> <p>22:00 Roles of the Adults in Sora</p> <p>25:34 Getting into College</p> <p>27:01 Is Internship part of your high school experience?</p> <p>32:49 Metaphor comparing Sora School and Conventional Education</p> <p><strong>Quotes:</strong></p> <p>"How do you solve a system issue, you create another system, right?"</p> <p>"We take a really different approach to education, but we don't instead make people sit and, you know, control their seat time, if you will."</p> <p>"They should have in-person interaction, but why are we shipping kids off at school just that they can receive a human YouTube video lecture?"</p> <p>"We're hoping to create a lot more paths out of high school. So families have more options."</p> <p>"Before COVID happened, we were having to do meet ups. So we're hosting meetups every once in a while they are going to museums together, and this is something we want to continue to do."</p> <p>"It's so funny. People don't realize, l