This October, somewhere in Southern California, rural Maine or maybe San Francisco, our 50,000th program participant was about to meet the SPIRIT SERIES challenge. They sat in a classroom with no idea of the transformation that lay ahead. But we knew. By the end of their residency, this student would come to experience her/his own capacity for success. After three weeks immersed in the epic challenges and triumphs of a great historical hero, grappling with text – probably two to three grades above their reading level, collaborating with fellow classmates, reflecting on life’s most demanding questions, and facing their own fear in high stakes public performance, the results would very likely be profound: for this student, their teacher, and the entire school community.

This October, somewhere in Southern California, rural Maine or maybe San Francisco, our 50,000th program participant was about to meet the SPIRIT SERIES challenge. They sat in a classroom with no idea of the transformation that lay ahead. But we knew. By the end of their residency, this student would come to experience her/his own capacity for success. After three weeks immersed in the epic challenges and triumphs of a great historical hero, grappling with text – probably two to three grades above their reading level, collaborating with fellow classmates, reflecting on life’s most demanding questions, and facing their own fear in high stakes public performance, the results would very likely be profound: for this student, their teacher, and the entire school community.

This October, somewhere in Southern California, rural Maine or maybe San Francisco, our 50,000th program participant was about to meet the SPIRIT SERIES challenge. They sat in a classroom with no idea of the transformation that lay ahead. But we knew. By the end of their residency, this student would come to experience her/his own capacity for success. After three weeks immersed in the epic challenges and triumphs of a great historical hero, grappling with text – probably two to three grades above their reading level, collaborating with fellow classmates, reflecting on life’s most demanding questions, and facing their own fear in high stakes public performance, the results would very likely be profound: for this student, their teacher, and the entire school community.