You need to know about the dents that Dent is making

My oldest child, Austin, is six now. He is full of life and creativity and curiosity. Sometimes he will go into his room and not come out for about two hours. When we go to check on him, his floor is lined with all of his dinosaur toys, organized into different categories. He will often be crouched down talking in a low voice to his dinosaur toys making sure they stay in line and behave. If he sees you peeking in on his dino pep talk he won't get nervous or shy. He invites you in and shows you around making sure that you repeat the names of the dinosaur he is telling you about. I never want moments like that to end.

Six years ago, I wasn't sure if I'd ever have those kinds of moments with him. Austin was a micro-preemie as he was born at 25 weeks and 5 days. He was one pound and fit into the palm of my hand.

My wife, Austin, and I spent six months in the NICU, came home and had to rush him back only to spend another six weeks there. I will never forget the smell of that place. I won't forget one single doctor or nurse or respiratory therapist. I won't ever forget that place.

As I look back on that experience, the one emotion I always feel is gratitude. We had the best care for our boy who made it through. He made it because God gave us the best doctors with the best tools. Whenever I meet folks who work in a NICU or who work on medical technology that helps save babies like mine, my heart swells with gratitude. I'm grateful that they chose their profession. I'm grateful that every day they wake up willing to save another life.

That is why I truly cannot put into words the immense amount of gratitude I felt when I met Rajan Patel, the Co-Founder, and CEO of Dent Education. The first time we met on Zoom, I asked him about his story. He revealed that he'd had a role in developing the Embrace Nest. The Nest is a portable infant warmer that does not need a continuous power supply. It is used in NICUs and medical transport situations to save the lives of babies. Rajan explained to me that this experience taught him one of the most important lessons that define his current career: how to make a dent in the world.

Today Rajan, his Co-Founder Jacki Neumann, and the team at Dent Education are changing the lives of students and their communities by empowering them to create in order to make a dent.

"Our goal is for students to live with agency"

When I think about equity in education I borrow from the way the word is defined in business. In the business world/start-up ecosystem equity means ownership, control, and one could even argue that it is the measure/extent to which you have agency in a business.

I think education should borrow from this understanding of equity as we seek to achieve it in schools. Do students have ownership or control of their own learning? Do they feel they have ownership over the physical space? What does it look like to share, transfer or even completely relinquish power to students? How do we give students a sense of agency?

Dent is on a mission to help students live with agency in and out of learning environments.

They do this by teaching students to adopt certain mindsets:

Denters are makers

If someone were to ask me how I'd describe a Denter or a student in the Dent Education program I'd describe them as makers. At Dent, students are equipped with the resources, mindsets, and physical tools to create solutions to problems in their community. When I say create solutions, I really mean it too.

Denters recently manufactured facemasks and face shields for the very obvious reason...COVID19. They distributed and sold them through their site madeatdent.com. Denters learn to solve real problems and they do it through creativity and well...making stuff.

Making stuff is actually so powerful. I recently interviewed Rajan for a podcast I am producing and he said the most powerful thing about making:

When you create things that the world uses you have power. We're trying to give that to Denters.

Denters are not just thinking through school project type learning that never becomes real. They are making real products for real people to solve real problems. They are also making real money. You read that right. Denters are PAID for the work and impact they are creating!

By the numbers

I believe that the greatest way to measure impact in education is to talk to students and capture their words, emotions, and expressions. While that is true for me, it doesn't mean the numbers don't matter. Since 2017 Dent has:

• Reached over 2000 students (130 of them with 50+ contact hours) -This means they are having a deep impact on the lives of their students.
• $185,000 in student earnings
• 90% of students indicated they "believe in their ability to shape the world around them”
• 90% of their students indicated they "view problems as opportunities to make a difference"

The most important 4 words ever

What matters more than anything else I've written here are four words I was told by one of the students at Dent. During my podcast conversation with Rajan, he brought two students with him, Shay and Zhadyn.

When I asked them to tell me about the impact Dent has had on their lives, they both said the same thing:

"Dent changed my life."

These are the types of organizations that we need to be talking about. Ones that are deeply impacting students and their communities. Ones that are building a new, bright and bold future of learning.

So today, let's celebrate Dent Education and the work they are doing to change the lives of their students.

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Thanks for reading this edition of Schoolish: The Newsletter. I really appreciate you being here.

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