Learning embedded in real businesses

Play: Learner-centered learning at Embark

Play: Youth learning at Embark Education

Great Work was set up to push on the structures in youth development that don't respect the capacity of young people. Montessori's work on adolescence gave us a design premise: twelve to fifteen year olds learn best through real, valued work in the adult world. The question was whether that could run as an operating model in a city neighborhood instead of a rural farm school.

What we built

Pinwheel Coffee opened on Halloween 2017 in a former art gallery on Navajo Street. It launched as a joint project with Denver Montessori Junior/Senior High and partner Montessori schools. Students worked in barista, marketing and leadership groups and chose everything from the location to the name.

Framework Cycles opened next door in August 2019. It's a commuter and cargo bike shop staffed by professional mechanics and sales staff, built to compete on its own merits.

Embark Education opened the same month: a micro middle school whose classrooms are the two businesses. It started with 16 students. At launch there was no tuition charge because business revenue covered operating costs. The school was designed around three pillars (learner-centered, embedded and integrated), with competencies in place of a traditional master schedule.

My role

I led Great Work through the design and launch of all three entities, including the structure that tied a nonprofit school to two operating businesses and the partnerships with Denver's Montessori schools. Miguel Gonzalez led the school's design and opening as its founding director.

Why it matters

The model required running retail businesses to commercial standards while also using them as classrooms. Both had to work every day. By 2022 Embark served 28 students in grades 6 to 8, still tuition free and funded through Great Work. It has been profiled by Education Reimagined, Getting Smart, Transcend and the Learner-Centered Collaborative.