Starting Two Businesses to Fund School with Miguel Gonzalez Brian Sense and Samara Transformative Principal 343

<p><a href="http://twitter.com/directorembark">Miguel Gonzalez</a> is the founder of Embark education, a micro school embedded in two small businesses (pinwheel coffee and framework cycles)</p> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/bpsense">Brian Sense</a> is the Executive Director Great Work, Inc</p> <p>Samara is a student at the Embark school.</p> <ul> <li>Microschools vs. traditional schools</li> <li>Blended grade levels.</li> <li>16 students enrolled with 7th and 8th grade.</li> <li>Embark education is an independent school, which allows us to work with kids tuition free!</li> <li>Founding businesses and profit from businesses would fund the educational experience.</li> <li>Grants and fundraising.</li> <li>Kids can make business decisions that may not be in the best interest of the businesses.</li> <li>Price changes involved in the coffee shop.</li> <li>How do we pose it to our students,</li> <li>Samara’s interest in the espresso machine.</li> <li>Coffee machine does produce 85% of our drinks.</li> <li>Learning is a strong point for me.</li> <li>We don’t just focus on educational needs, but also on social emotional needs.</li> <li>What school is like?</li> <li>What structures do we want to have?</li> <li>Miguel’s job is supporting embark and the teachers.</li> <li>Making the impact on students is just as valuable as getting a bike back to a customer.</li> <li>When we break down the walls of school…</li> <li>Every role has a focus, but they also are involved in the other programs.</li> <li>We also include students in the interview process.</li> <li>Middle school students know who they want to work around.</li> <li>Middle schoolers is an important age to focus on the joy of learning.</li> <li>It’s never about the bikes or the coffee, it’s about student learning.</li> <li>Middle school is an overlooked time of development.</li> <li>Kids don’t drop out in high school, they drop out in middle school. They just sign the paperwork and leave in high School.</li> <li>Knowing where I want to center my learning.</li> <li>6th g