Blue Sky School

     I believe that everybody needs a passion, but what really is a passion? A passion is something that you believe in and that has some responsibility for defining you. You can have multiple passions, I do and it's a good thing if you do, because a unique combination of passions, if used to it's full potential, can create some unique and amazing results. Some examples of passions are music, animal rights, human rights, and making. How are you supposed to achieve your passion? How do you even discover your passion? These are all good questions that I will do my best to answer in the following paragraphs.      How are you supposed to achieve your passion? That's a bit of a trick question and misconception. You can't achieve your passion, your passion is what helps you to decide on what goals you have to achieve. Not everybody has the same passions and that's a good thing, to reiterate on the preceding paragraph, your passions make you who you are.  ...

     Whether you wanted it or not, it's here. The Magic Number Part 2 has arrived. In one of my previous blog posts, we talked about the number 7 and how it applies to writing elevator pitches. In my opinion and with my experience, I have discovered that there are 7 steps to successfully writing an elevator pitch and today I will write around 7 sentences about each of these 7 steps. This blog post is brought to you by the letter 49. (It's not so good the second time, is it?)       The first step is to have a topic. Topics inform your audience about what it is you will be talking about and it gives them something to expect. Your topic should be included in the first couple sentences of your pitch. Remember that the point of your elevator pitch should be to get across something that you have to offer. This will most likely either be a service, idea, or product. Another thing to keep in mind is that your topic is the thing that will intrigue your audien...

     Why should I go to school? The age of old question asked by the majority of the under 18 population who go to school. You've heard the basic "It's important and it'll help you in your future life" answer told by every teacher ever, but apart from that, why should you go to school? For many, it's not engaging and it's not pleasurable. For those people, whether they want to go to school is almost as rhetorical as being asked, "Would you like to get shot with a massive gun?" (In case you're wondering, for me the answer is no to the gun thing.)      Below are 7 (my new favourite number) reasons why you should put the effort in to go to school every day. And yes, the follow up to the User Interface blog post is coming soon. 1. Why not? School may not be the greatest, but it's most definitely not the worst! It's something to do when you're bored and an excuse to get out of doing chores. It could definitely be better, but it cou...

When working in UI (User Interface), they say the magic number is seven. According to me, this applies to life. Seven days in a week, seven deadly sins, seven legs on an unfortunate octopus. Do you see my point? This blog post is brought to you by the number seven. (Brownie points if you get that reference.) The way the number seven will be used today is in the context of elevator pitches. An elevator pitch is basically a quick way to summarize a product, idea, or service. The concept is that you happen to meet an important business prospect in an elevator and the travel to your destination is all the time you have to get your idea across. Why seven? Well, in my opinion, that’s the maximum amount of sentences you must have in your elevator pitch. However, they can’t just be any seven sentences, they must be methodically written and well delivered. You may be wondering, how does this apply to Blue Sky School? It applies because we thrive to teach students in a manner that the i...

I'm a 12 (almost 13) year old in grade 7 and i n my opinion, everybody should be friends. Life's too short to hold grudges, especially with someone who you work with 5 days out of the week. The relationship between students and teachers is an important one and I believe that the ability to work together is a crucial skill.  Here's the problem; as a society it is common to look at school as something to hate and something to fear. People look at school as a prison, not a privilege. School teaches us about what we want to do and who we want to become. When the majority of kids (myself included) wake up in the morning, we don't want to go to school. Why? It's because school doesn't truly engage us. If teachers and students were friends, we would wake up ready for school. Spending a day with your friend sounds great, doesn't it? This is where Blue Sky School comes in. We work towards learning that engages students and has a friendly atmosphere. No mor...

Imagine if school challenged me to think of the impact I have on the world. Imagine if I got to be independent and move my learning at my own pace. Imagine if school inspired me to achieve my most ambitious dreams and plans. At Blue Sky School, you don't have to imagine any more. Blue Sky School is the experimental prototype school of tomorrow. We are opening in Ottawa, Canada in September 2017 with an amazing class of 12 Pioneer students. We are offering a unique new type of learning experience for grade 4-12 learners. We are a school innovation centre built by, for and as a community. At Blue Sky School, students engage in passion projects that empower them to impact the world in a positive way. The issue with modern day schooling is that it is under a one sized fits all category. Students are told to sit down at the same desks day after day, with kids who are the same age as them, split their learning into chunks that are divided by the sound of a be...