focusing on what we know is important for kids really works, and having a network of people now that also agree was super huge.

I don’t think I’ve been in a room as supportive as the Yass Prize Semifinalist room in Miami.

The Yass Prize has empowered our youth, families and community by bringing great visibility to our efforts.

The funding is not following children. We're trying to make better options for kids, for poor kids, middle class kids. Wealthy people have this choice, they opt out of their systems easily, why shouldn't all children have that choice?

And through that, we were able to open up our second campus in the city of Wichita.

It's given us an opportunity to start critical discussions with our congregations, parents, community leaders and members, about the laws that govern education in Pennsylvania.

We believe very much that microschools should be bottoms up, they come from the community. They're founded by educators who know their community really well. And they want to design a learning environment for the kids in that community.

It has helped me raise the ceiling on what’s possible.

we have to find academic experiences that represent neuro-divergent learners, kids who want to learn about gaming, who want to do stuff online, who dropped out of school.

from all different demographics, all different states, all different service provider types that you can learn from.