Calling Out Character (Year 2, Week 28)

Abraham Lincoln faced many difficult decisions as president. In the early years of the Civil War, the Union was not doing well. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass pushed for slaves to be allowed to fight for the Union. Once a former slave had fought for the Union, they could not be denied full citizenship; something that went strongly against political opinion in the North. Lincoln believed a mistake had been made by the creators of American democracy; slavery should have never been allowed. He faced a tough decision: allow slaves to fight, which would make many voters unhappy or leave them in slavery.

If you had the power to make a change would you do it if you thought it was right, even if most of the people around you didn’t agree?

Many of the heroes answered that if it was something very important, like slavery, they would do what they thought was right no matter what. However, if it was a smaller issue they wouldn’t make changes that most people didn’t want.

Getting Ready

With the exhibition only 2 weeks away, this week was very eventful. The heroes completed multiple quest challenges, purchased supplies using money loaned to them by the investors, and began working on marketing pitches for potential customers at the fair.

The Costs and Risks challenges this week helped the heroes explore sunk costs, variable costs and fixed costs. Key factors that help determine the viability of any business venture.

A of the heroes signed up to go on a special trip to the store to purchase the supplies they needed. They used their money from investors to make their purchases.

Black Canyon Popcorn

This session marks the second Entrepreneurship quest the heroes have experienced. With the last Entrepreneurship quest, the heroes visited Scentsy; a large and well-known business. On Thursday, the heroes had a chance to visit a smaller business: Black Canyon Popcorn. Jessica Astle, the owner of Black Canyon Popcorn talked with the heroes about seasonal changes in demand, gross vs. net profits, connecting with vendors and distributors, and the process of growing a customer base. According to Jessica, when she first took over the business 9 years ago their gross profit was $18,000/year. After 9 years, the business now grosses roughly $320,000/year. Growth they were very proud of.

After answering the heroes questions, Jessica showed them the process of making popcorn from how to pop the seeds, to remove coronals, to flavoring and packaging. The heroes enjoyed seeing how it was made, and especially testing out many of the flavors!

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Town Hall Meeting

At Heroes Academy, the heroes discuss, set and hold other’s accountable for many of their promises in the studio. When the heroes begin to hold low standards or not uphold their promises as a group, a guide will act as a mirror to show the discrepancy between their promises and their actions. The heroes then have the choice to change their standards or recommit to upholding their original guidelines.

The Rules of Engagement are one set promises the heroes have created to be upheld by the Hero Council during Socratic discussions. They are:

• Be on Time
• Listen Respectfully
• Take a Stand
• Use I agree or I disagree
• Be Concise
• Use evidence and examples

Recently, the guides noticed that excellence in discussions has begun to decrease over time, planning to launch next week’s Monday launch with a discussion about the Rules of Engagement.

During Town Hall meeting Friday morning, three heroes (Lily, Adri and Alexa) brought up this issue and proposed a higher standard be held during discussions. It’s wonderful to see even the youngest heroes recognize a lack of excellence and elevate it to make the studio a better place.

Character Callouts

With all of the fun activities and engaging challenges in the studio, it can be easy to get caught up in the big picture and miss the small important moments that happen every day.

The studio as a whole seems to be developing into a stronger and stronger tribe. Some evidence of this is daily character callouts. Typically, a guide chooses one hero to call out in front of the group each day.

This session, the guides have given a total of two of these character callouts as the heroes are continually asking if they can offer the character callout for a fellow traveler they noticed doing something heroic that day. It’s a powerful experience watching these young heroes offer such powerful praise to each other.

Wrap Up

Choosing a hero’s journey is not a for the faint of heart. But surround yourself by people who believe in you and notice the heroic choices your making just might make all the difference.