Learn to Learn, Learn to Do and Learn to Be

(Year 5, Week 13)

Over the last few weeks, the heroes have spend several days discussing honesty and accountability in the studio as they have been tuning up systems like freedom levels and badge islands, as well as improving squad meetings designed to verify work tracked in Journey Tracker.

To build on these discussions, on Monday the guide shared a story of a time when he had lied to his parents, telling them that a CD they had found was not his, even though it was. The heroes were then asked if they ever had to be honest, even when it required a great deal of courage to do so.

After many stories about honesty, the heroes were challenged to notice times when they felt the impulse to cheat or lie that day. At close, they were asked if they had been tempted to cheat or not and what happened. Several shared of the impulse to cheat, most being able to overcome the impulse and make a choice they were later proud of.

“Did you not cheat because you didn’t want to feel guilty of cheating, you feared getting caught, or something else?”

Several heroes shared wanting to avoid the feelings of guilt, while others felt that being exposed in squad huddles would be embarrassing and they would become “the person who cheats.”

In any free society, virtue must have a strong hold in the hearts of its people. In the studios at Heroes Academy it’s no different. While the heroes believe that strong accountability and verification is important, without virtuous young people who are willing to choose the harder right, guides and heroes would spend endless time trying to chase down the infinite varieties of cheating that could occur in the studios.

Rosie Ruiz

On Wednesday, the conversation continued with the story of Rosie Ruiz, who in 1980, had one the Boston Marathon, one of the world’s oldest marathons. She not only recorded the 3rd fastest time for a female runner, but she barely seemed to break a sweat. Skip to 1:39 on the video below if you’d like to see how it played out:

Rosie Ruiz not only was the first to cross the finish line, but was also the first to ever win as a cheater.

After learning of Rosie Ruiz, the heroes were challenged with the following questions:

Q1. If you were in charge of the Boston Marathon, would you let Rosie Ruiz off with a warning; ban her from the marathon tribe, or put her in jail?

Q2. Tim Gonahee was the referee of the Boston Marathon, would you fire him?

Q3. Is this more similar or different than cheating on points and badges in the studio?

Q4. Do you think our time should be focused on inspiring each hero to be honest, or crafting a system that verified points?

The heroes will continue to improve on systems of accountability as well as be encouraged and inspired to be courageously honest. Which is more important? A tough question to answer for any hero.

Exhibition Prep and Pitches

This week the heroes were heavily focused on preparing their pitches and putting together the schedule and format for exhibition.

Several spent time finishing their challenges and getting green-lighted for exhibition.

Besides the pitches themselves, they prepared a ballot, QR codes, schedules, cleaned the studio, prepared opening remarks, closing awards, and did a complete run through start to finish.

Then on Thursday, the heroes stood up, one at a time, and pitched their pet to parents and other exhibition guests. Several parents commented on how proud they were of their child doing something challenging, and how fun it was to see the other personalities in the studio.

After the votes were collected, the winner was…

Lauryn and her pitch for two mice! She will have the opportunity to go to the pet store and purchase the supplies and the pets early next session.

Reflection

On Friday, the heroes spent time reflecting on the exhibition. They didn’t give permission to share a video of their reflections, but here are some of their comments:

What did you learn that you don’t want to forget:

“That pet’s are pretty hard to take care of. I just thought it was easy before.”

“There’s more to it (a pitch) than just writing a paper. There’s a lot more practice and preparation.”

“I don’t want to forget that it’s scarier when you’re off the stage than when you’re on it.”

“That’s it’s hard to control your shaking.”

“How much goes into just a one minute pitch. It’s not just writing, you have to research your animal and do all this stuff.”

“That for me it’s more scary thinking about it than it is actually doing it.”

“Trying to not get stage fright, because I was trying to not fall over!”

“I learned that I’m not afraid of public speaking anymore, like in an exhibition or anything… That sometimes you need to add something fun to it and not always serious.”

The heroes then discussed if and how this experience would be valuable on their hero’s journey, many sharing the importance of speaking in public, as well as just being able to speak to people one-on-one.

Wrap Up

As the year presses on, it’s easy to lose focus on what matters. But look hard enough and you’ll see this session was full of courage. The courage to stand up in public and give a pitch. The courage to be honest, even when it’s hard. The courage to be vulnerable and humble, even when it might mean you lose something you care about. The courage to hold a high standard, even when your fellow travelers might be frustrated. Lots of academic progress no doubt, but more importantly lots of opportunities to learn to learn, learn to do, and learn to be.