What kind of school visits a Buddhist temple, hosts a podcasting class, and learns Elvis Presley on the guitar during downtime? Alcove does.
Except, we’re something even better than a school. We’re a place teens can learn and explore without the restrictions of a normal classroom.1
Alcove Learning opened its doors in downtown Los Angeles, CA, on January 7, with 5 teen members, 4 core staff (Alexi Burgess, Ana Herrejón, Wednesday Hobson, and Noelani del Rosario-Sabet), and a strong contingent of volunteer teachers. The staff had been planning for this day for months: deciding on a name, filing for non-profit status, organizing a board of trustees, designing marketing materials, talking with interested families, meeting with area businesses and community leaders, recruiting volunteers, getting the space ready, and handling the myriad administrative details that come with starting a self-directed education center. And now the dream is a reality.
First days can be nerve-wracking for everyone: the staff trying to figure out what to offer and how to support the new members, the kids not sure about leaving school and nervous about making new friends, and then there’s everyone figuring out what kind of community they want. After a morning of introductions, discussions, and getting settled in the space, the kids and staff learned about contour drawing in an art class, led by Noe and North Star alum Kiva, and then went out for a tour of the neighborhood. Alcove is located on a historic block of Little Tokyo, and just a few blocks from Los Angeles City Hall.
With their first month in the rearview mirror, Alcove staff can look back and know they are making something special. The teens are busy creating the education that they want for themselves: trying out classes, learning how to live in community, and meeting with mentors to discuss their hopes and dreams—as well as the many practical day-to-day decisions of directing one’s education. To support their life together, the staff and teens have created a full schedule of offerings: weekly classes in photography, ukulele, theater, voice, mindful movement, and more; meetups to discuss topics of interest, e.g, homelessness; and field trips to local destinations of interest, e.g., a walking tour of Chinatown and hiking in Topanga State Park (where the group met up with the folks from Petals Learning Community). As Alexi noted in his “Weekend Update 2” email to families: They are working hard to build “Alcove up into a big, beautiful community of peers making their way in the world.”
The creation of Alcove Learning began in December 2018 when Alexi sent an email to Liberated Learners: “Hey. I’m interested in learning more about how to start a center in Los Angeles”, and now just over a year later Alcove Learning is open, with a growing teen community. Alexi took advantage of an opportunity to meet in person with Joel Hammon at Princeton Learning Cooperative, when he was in town in later December, and by mid-January he had signed on with LL to work through our Starter process. It was a bit of a leap of faith. As he says on the Alcove website: “[I] spent the first half of [my] adult life doing philosophy”. He was a professor at Stanford University for many years, and had visiting appointments at a number of other colleges. Alexi shared the following:
I was motivated by the observation that college students seemed increasingly anxious, confused about what they wanted from life after college, and alienated from the content of what they were signing up to study. As if they’d become conditioned to study for the sake of studying. Not for the sake of learning. So I started reading about alternatives, picked up Creative Schools, saw the reference to North Star, and the rest is history.
Alcove is making history! The self-directed education movement has never been stronger, with new voices and new ventures joining in everyday. We are excited to have the Alcove team as part of the Liberated Learners network.
1Facebook, Alcove Learning, January 31, 2020
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