Embark Education

From learner-led lessons on the bass guitar and indoor gardening to a showcase of learner-created podcasts and videos, today’s culminating events were for the books. ?? As two of our Learning Experiences, Sharing Your Passion and Stories that Brewed a Revolution, came to a close, we celebrated the way we always do: with culminating events highlighting our learners’ hard work over the last five weeks. In Sharing Your Passion, learners have been exploring a passion of theirs and engaging in deep work to grow skills and knowledge in their subject area. Today, learners shared their passions with peers and adults alike in a series of 30 minute lessons they designed. A few of the many presentations included “Hydraulics and Low Riders,” “Roly Polys and the Future,” and “A Shift of the Mirror: A History of Fashion.” And over in the culminating event for Stories that Brewed a Revolution, learners shared stories they have been working on crafting over the last five weeks. In this Learning Experience, learners identified a story they wanted to tell about their time at Embark, and how they wanted to tell it, choosing between creating a video, a podcast, or a blog. And today, we had the privilege of watching, listening, and reading their stories. We can’t think of a better way to cap off the Friday before spring break than by spending the day experiencing firsthand what middle schoolers are capable of. The most astounding part? They are just getting started. We can’t wait to see where the unwritten chapters of their stories take them! #middleschooljoy #authenticlearning #learnercentered #innovativeeducation #education

Community is paramount to who we are at Embark Education. What better way to reinforce our learners’ already strong sense of community than a March-Madness-inspired Whole School Meeting? ?? Every Wednesday, the entire Embark community - including all learners and staff on both the school and operations teams - convene together for 30 minutes. Some days, these meetings are centered on sharing pertinent all-school updates. Other days, in fact most days, they center on cultivating community, connection, and middle school joy. As we stare down the final few days before spring break, which begins this Friday, we are meeting students where they are. As you might imagine, where they are is a state of eager anticipation for the break right around the corner. So, naturally, with spring break starting Friday, and March Madness starting tomorrow, we capitalized on the general sense of levity and playfulness in the air and spent today’s Whole School Meeting watching learners compete in a bracket style tournament that put their skills to the test. In three rounds of competition that challenged learners’ to move a cracker from their foreheads to their mouths without using their hands, balance dice on spoons, and stack cups, hilarity (and a little madness) ensued. While one team came out on top, the results of competition are less relevant to us than reinforcing a sense of community among our learners, and acknowledging that sometimes - especially when break is right around the corner - making time for no frills, no fuss fun is what is in the best interest of us all. #middleschooljoy #learnercentered

Wednesdays are for exploring what’s possible in education ??. This week, we shine a spotlight on Open Walled Learning days (or OWLs ??). Twice weekly, Embark learners head off campus and into the world to learn from the people and places in our surrounding communities. While the list of places we have visited on OWLs is long and the variety is vast, each and every OWL has one thing in common: reinforcing the idea that learning can happen anywhere, anytime, and that anyone can be an educator. Take a recent OWL on a Denver Graffiti Tour, for example. This OWL was part of one of our current Learning Experiences, called Sharing Your Passion. In this Learning Experience, students are identifying something they’re passionate about, researching, and practicing to further their understanding. We know what you might be thinking: how did this learning experience take us on an OWL to tour Denver street art? This OWL was all about exploring one way that people can use their passion - in this case, art to produce a public product that shares artists’ passion with the world. Learners focused specifically on looking at murals with a social message, including one advocating for returning land to indigenous cultures and one incorporating pacifism and women’s rights. As novel as OWLs are - and they truly do lead to some incredible learning moments - it’s the mindset that they instill that we love the most. Embark supports learners to courageously inquire, engage, and discover not only a sense of self, but a sense of the world around them. OWLs are just one way we spark curiosity in our learners. It is our hope - and indeed our experience! - that learners bring this curiosity with them beyond school and out into the world. ?? #openwalledlearning #authenticlearning #learnercentered #middleschooljoy

Mondays are for sharing #middleschooljoy. We know what you might be thinking: "Middle School? Joyful?" At Embark, we don't just believe that middle school can be joyful: we live it, see it, and experience it every single day. Last week, our learners were split into groups and given three hours to produce, film, and edit a five-minute feature film. After learners completed their films, they walked over to the historic and beloved Bug Theatre, where their films debuted on the silver screen. It's moments like this, seeing learners' faces light up at seeing their work on the big screen, that affirm our innate knowing that not only can middle school be a time of joy; it can be a time of curiosity, creativity, and play. Are any of the films created headed for Cannes or Sundance? Probably not. (Sorry, learners!) Were there moments of frenzy and chaos in the making of these films? Absolutely, yes. But in the end, at Embark, the joy isn't derived just from the culminating product so much as it is from the trust and belief we instill in our learners. Like the trust in them to take three hours to move freely around our North Denver neighborhood to make a film. While the process wasn't without its challenges and teachable moments, it is our hope that learners take this trust we extend to them - a steadfast belief that they are capable of remarkable things - and carry it with them beyond middle school. This level of trust, faith, and respect may not be common, but students rise because of it.

Middle schoolers are capable of momentous things. The spring seasonal menu at our coffee shop, Pinwheel, is a prime example of just that. Underneath the clever names and beautiful artwork adorning this board is the story of real world learning with real world impact. Every single drink on this menu was created by our middle schoolers as part of a recurring learning experience that challenged them to dream, research, test, and propose a new drink for the shop’s seasonal menus. The arc of this project took students from our learning environment, where they experimented with different flavor combinations, to the streets of Denver where they did market research. The Drink Project culminated in a Shark Tank style taste test presentation where learners shared why their drink should be chosen for a seasonal menu. This learning experience not only became a student favorite over the years; it also produced some of Pinwheel’s most beloved and highest-selling seasonal drinks. This is the power of authentic learning at its best - it draws undeniable and palpable enthusiasm and joy from learners while also making an undeniable and palpable impact on those its benefits ripple towards. The success of these learner-created drinks doesn’t stop at cultivating learner joy and sales for the shop; it’s seen and felt in Pinwheel’s community, too. In fact, when Pinwheel announced the launch of the spring 2025 seasonal menu on its social media, the post was one of the highest performing in the last several weeks, with one user even commenting “LEMON LAVENDER LATTE!!!!! LET’S GOOOOO!!!!!!” (Check out Pinwheel’s Instagram to see for yourself!) Middle schoolers are capable of momentous things. We are privileged to be witness to this not only when we see authentic learning at its peak, but every single day. Today’s curious learners are tomorrow’s revolutionary leaders, and we can’t wait to see their stories continue to unfold. #authenticlearning #projectbasedlearning #middleschool #middleschooljoy #education

Embark was never just a place. From the very beginning, it was a shared mindset—one that ignited wonder, encouraged learning through passion and courage, and reimagined the role of educators. It was proof that education could be different. That learning could be fueled by curiosity, not just curriculum. That learners, educators, and communities could come together to build something new. ? The physical space we occupied was a launching pad, designed not to contain potential, but to unleash it. And that potential—the joy, the resilience, the relentless pursuit of exploring what’s possible—has never been bound by walls.?It lives in the learners who discovered their strengths and the educators who redefined what’s possible. It lives in the community that together dreamed bigger. It lives in?you. As we prepare to close this chapter, we recognize that Embark’s story doesn’t end here. It continues in every lesson learned, every challenge embraced, and every bold step taken toward a future shaped by those who carry this experience forward. ? In the months ahead, we will celebrate the people who made this adventure extraordinary. But for now, know this: what we built together—what?you?helped create—will continue to thrive far beyond June 2025. Because Embark was never about a place. It was always about the journey.

The first reveal of the Embark Education x Pinwheel Coffee Secret Menu 2025 is Earl’s Magic Matcha. This delightful drink is made with authentic Encha matcha powder and topped with an Earl Gray cold foam. Talk about magic ????. This drink, and this video to promote it, were both created by the courageous middle school learners of Embark Education. We love to see #authenticlearning in action (especially when it tastes this delicious!) #matcha #earlgray #coldfoam #denvercoffee #lohi #denvercoffeeshop #authenticlearning #middleschooljoy

Embark learners were recently tasked with a mission to create a new, secret menu for Pinwheel Coffee. Seldom ones to shy away from a challenge, our learners accepted the mission and, wow, did they deliver. ?? Embark Education and Pinwheel Coffee are proud to announce the Secret Menu 2025. Over the next few days, we’ll be revealing a series of drinks born of the minds of our middle school learners ?. In true Embark fashion, our learners not only created the menu; they created the social media content to help share + promote the menu, too. ?? Stay tuned here for a peek at the creative caffeinated concoctions now available at Pinwheel. And if you are local to Denver, stop by and give one a try! (Shoutout to our amazing Director of Programs, Brian Hyosaka, for his cameo in our first promotional video! ??) #authenticlearning #secretmenu #denvercoffee #lohi #middleschooljoy

Quiet on set! ?? Recording in progress. On Tuesday, we launched two new Learning Experiences. And yesterday, one of those Learning Experiences brought our middle schoolers right to a professional podcast recording booth. ?? In our Stories that Brewed a Revolution Learning Experience, students are exploring how we can use various mediums to share a story in a way that connects with our audience. Learners will hone critical thinking and communication skills as they work towards creating and telling a final story through a podcast, video, or written word. The journey began this week, first in our learning environment with an improv game to ease students into practice interviewing and then, to a professional recording booth to try their hand at podcasting. The challenge? Learners recorded a 5-10 minute podcast exploring the joys of middle school at Embark. The goal? To create a podcast that is thoughtful, engaging, and professional while showcasing their ability to inquire and deliver a message. Learners have been hard at work editing their podcasts and will showcase them to a group of peers tomorrow. We can’t wait to tune in, and moreover, we can’t wait to see how much these learners grow their storytelling confidence over the next four weeks! #middleschooljoy #learnercentered #podcast #microschool #storytelling

Can you remember the first time you had to speak in front of 50-60 people—peers and adults alike? It’s a big moment. At Embark Education, we create real-world opportunities for learners to grow—where time and time again, we are shown what they are capable of. Yesterday, I had the privilege of watching almost a dozen monologues and a public forum debate. I saw 6th–8th grade learners confidently present arguments on topics ranging from universal healthcare and climate change to banning TikTok and school uniforms. In just a handful of weeks, these learners transformed into poised, compelling public speakers. And once again, I was reminded: Middle schoolers are capable of so much more than we often believe. The fact that I keep being amazed tells me I still have plenty to learn from them! #RadicalTrust #RealWorldLearning #LearnerCentered #EmbarkEducation #Adolescence #PublicSpeaking