Workspace Education, located in Bethel, Connecticut, is a child-centered learning community of families and professionals who create flexible learning environments through co-learning and 21st century integrated curriculums. A group of 10 Workspace learners joined One Stone in Boise for Hands Down, Voices Up, a summit to empower student voice. We asked this youth group about Workspace and what they hoped to learn about empowering themselves and others to use their voices for good.
A group of 10 learners from Workspace Education in Bethel, Connecticut joined the conversation at Hands Down, Voices Up in Boise, Idaho from October 23-25.
What is Workspace?
Sophia Bellissimo: Workspace is a collective space where all kinds of different learners can come together to practice and create classes so we can all learn together.
What kinds of questions do you get about Workspace? What do people want to know about you?
Isabella Alvarez: I guess for me, and this is my first year at Workspace, everyone asks me what I do and how it’s different from public school. So they’re always asking, am I learning? Am I actually doing work? Am I going to be able to get into colleges? It’s a lot about how I’m doing school differently from public school and the traditional school system.
“It’s so cool to see all these young people wanting to improve the world and do good.”
What’s it like to come to a place like this where you meet a lot of other youth who have been in a similar “different” learning environment?
Kiana Shabazz-Williams: I just love the idea of this conference because there are a whole bunch of learners and we have a similar workspace, but there are still so many different perspectives and stories that you can learn from. You can network, you can get ideas, and grow from it.
Ziya Shabazz-Williams: I think it’s very important to see different ways of learning and how people educate themselves, because it will teach us a different point of view about other kids, how they’re learning, and what they like about their school. And (here we can) share our educational systems with everybody to learn more.
What inspiration have you gathered at Hands Down, Voices Up thus far?
Andralyn Applebee: I would say it’s really exciting to see how many other teens our age are also excited to share what they’ve been experiencing and they aren’t scared to show that. So it’s been really, really interesting and really fun to meet other people who have similar experiences, but also different ones.
Forrest Anderson: I think it’s been so cool to see people do good in the world. You don’t really see a lot of that just around, that’s not a huge thing. It’s so cool to see all these young people wanting to improve the world and do good.
Tristan Fraise: It’s really nice to see everybody come together for one specific purpose, and that’s to find their own voices and to help our generation actually speak. Everyone’s here for their own reasons, but just being united under one flag, if you will, is just really inspiring.
