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STOP FOR EDUCATION

Road Show

Storming Through the Midwest to Uncover What Makes Discovery the Best

The Yass Prize Road Show Visits the Land of Lincoln

  • April 11, 2023

The storms that swept through the Midwest were no match for the whirlwind visit events at the Discovery Center of Springfield, inaugural Yass winner (2021) and exemplar for science museums and educators throughout the country.

The Yass Prize celebrates, rewards and expands education providers who outperform for underserved students in transformational ways. That’s probably why the Mayor, state policymakers and press came from far and wide to join us in our second Road Show of the year.

The story of the Discovery Center is how a museum became a school. We’ve told their story before, but in brief; when parents had nowhere else to turn during Covid, Discovery welcomed them in. 

At warp speed, Discovery reopened their doors, reimagined as a school in order to meet the urgent needs of healthcare workers’ families who needed not only a safe option for their students, but an education that focused on putting kids first.  “We’d get here before dark and we would leave after dark. We were always traveling in the dark. Nobody else was ever on the roads.  It was just us coming here to serve kids.  Everyone else had shut down.” said Director Rob Blevins.

Today it’s not just a school, but a series of opportunities and learning experiences that far transcend a normal classroom experience.

After winning the Yass Prize, DCS revamped their education space to include hands-on displays, labs, and more in 50,000 square feet of interactive space, interweaving a broad array of subjects; hard sciences, technology, math, health, environment, culture, art, and communications.

Through programs designed to give abstract ideas, concepts, and real-world applications, DCS’ mission is to “inspire curiosity and a life-long love of learning through memorable and engaging hands-on experiences in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

From the Mayor issuing a proclamation making it Education Innovation Day in Springfield, to our founder Janine Yass taking top billing on the evening news, to the state’s top lawmakers convening to learn more about Springfield’s own education leader, we keep wondering, why isn’t every Science Center a school? 

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The Yass Foundation advances the four core STOP principles: Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless education. Each year, the Foundation will reward dozens of organizations, building a growing network of innovative providers that
demonstrate these qualities in their commitment to new ideas, technologies, and approaches to learning that bring education into
the 21st century. The Foundation is powered by the Center for Education Reform (CER) in partnership with Forbes.

We see the Pulitzer prizes, we see the MacArthur Genius Grants, we see the Pritzker prize for architecture.

But for the one field that drives everything, education, there is no definitive prize. The Yass Prize has filled that vacuum -- it's more than just the money. It's about spurring ideas, it's about spurring innovation. We are very very proud to be a part of it.

Randall Lane
Editor,
Forbes

I am still processing the magnitude of this experience and so grateful for meeting each and everyone of you.

I look forward to continuing our transformative work in our communities and together.

Taylor Shead
Board Member,
Dallas Education Foundation

Entrepreneurs are people who teach us about needs we don’t know we need.

This is the fundamental basis of what we are doing.

Carl Schramm
University Professor,
Syracuse University

I'm deeply humbled and grateful to be part of this group.

The last month has been a tremendous experience and I'm so inspired and motivated by the amazing work this group is doing. Collectively, we’re working towards a real-world goal and it’s leaving me empowered and motivated to apply what we learn.

Jeffrey Imrich
Co-Founder,
Rock by Rock

Remember, you are doing the work of civilization.

You are planting the seeds of a better world, despite any bad news, you’re doing great things.

Steve Forbes
Editor-in-Chief,
Forbes Media

We realized long ago that there’s a lot of money in the system, and it’s just not directed to the children.

Janine Yass
Founder,
The Yass Prize

If you get to the accelerator after the application process, go in knowing you already won.

The fact that you are now with a group of your peers you really get to see how world class the education profession is.

Christopher Simmonds
Principal,
CARE Elementary School

I hope you all think about the fact that the impact you are having, you will never even know how widespread it is.

That’s the beauty of education, you impact lives in such a deep way.

Alyssa Farah Griffin
Co-Host on The View and CNN Political Commentator,

Unfortunately, the bureaucracy that’s behind the school system is more interested in perpetuating jobs and keeping the system in place, rather than giving children the freedom they deserve.

Janine Yass
Founder,
The Yass Prize

We may not agree on much of anything, but one thing that is a uniting force that we all agree on is that education opens doors, it’s the great equalizer.

Alyssa Farah Griffin
Co-Host on The View and CNN Political Commentator,

The fact that education has become partisan is upsetting, and I just hope that this award will encourage more states to view this as a bipartisan issue.

Janine Yass
Founder,
The Yass Prize

When you are trying to advance and think beyond the status quo, this can be a lonely place, because our systems are structured to do the same thing.

It is important to surround yourself with like-minded individuals who foster innovation.

Phyllis Lockett
CEO,
LEAP Innovations

What has been created here at the accelerator is truly incredible.

We may never know how pivotal this really is for education in America right here, right now. This group of people will work together to force real change permissionlessly.

Rob Blevins
Executive Director,
Discovery Center of Springfield

The real source of wealth in society is the human mind, not material things, because with the human mind, great wealth can be created.

Steve Forbes
Editor-in-Chief,
Forbes Media

You are in a moment in history that we have never seen before.

Any of us with a disruptive idea have a shot at trying to prove something.

Randall Lane
Chief Content Officer,
Forbes Media

We often jump to the what, without thinking with the community about the why.

Michael B. Horn
Author,
From Reopen to Reinvent

The pandemic didn’t stop our families, scholars and educators from learning, growing and thriving.

Patricia Brantley
CEO,
Friendship Public Charter School

Success happens after many pivots and changes.

Michael Moe
Founder and CEO,
Global Silicon Valley

What is good for families is good for the school because families want great schools.

Ceci Schickel
Senior Director of Organizing and Advocacy,
Mastery Charter School

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