LT'18 Education Day

Sarah Ham, AACSB International

What’s in your backpack?

Books? Check. Bass guitar? Check. Chef’s knife…? CHECK. When most people think of education, a traditional learning environment often comes to mind: an inspiring teacher, desks, computers, overstuffed lockers, composition books and cafeteria pizza. However, getting ready for a “regular” school day is anything but routine for thousands of students pursuing all forms of education, students free of the idea that learning is limited to what’s in the books. Books aren’t just about reading, writing and arithmetic, or the core skills required to complete a college-prep program like the young men and women at Academy Prep Center of Tampa are pursuing. Their 11-hour days start with a handshake from the principal and they are then consumed by creative thinking, teamwork, friendly competition and sincere appreciation for their classmates’ talents through art, music and even gardening. There’s a unique energy on Academy Prep’s campus where students encourage each other to succeed while remaining accountable for their actions in the process, something that cannot be taught by turning pages but is critical to success. At Academy Prep, students embrace their right to pursue happiness no matter what their background or where they come from, and education is a core component of that right. Performing arts students at Blake High School pursue another form of happiness by packing pages of sheet music between homework assignments thanks to Blake offering more advanced placement classes than any other school in the district. An entirely immersive experience, academics make room for sheet music, guiding students through rests, rhythms, pitches, and chords, igniting their creativity into music that lingers long after the applause. Books can’t teach students to “feel” their music, nor do they need to. Blake students possess an innate talent that lets them lose track of time through a form of universal communication with the power to evoke emotions that defy modern language. It’s easy to forget how young these talented students are as they all demonstrate the musical maturity of seasoned performers. While students at Blake are performing on stage, the world’s next greatest chefs are sharpening their knives and pulling recipes from cookbooks for a culinary performance in the kitchens at Chamberlain High School’s Culinary Operations Academy. An art form unto itself, cooking offers students the freedom to create delicious art for the plate while learning in what can be a stressful and chaotic environment of heat, fire, sharp knives, and deadlines. Once again, education finds its way off the pages of a textbook and into the proper way to filet a steak and infuse new forms of French cooking into tender vegetables all while teaching students how to work together towards a common goal as a cohesive team. Education isn’t just about the books weighing down a backpack, it’s the recipe coming together in a young chef’s mind as they slice a fresh tomato while a team of other chefs work together to prepare the rest of the meal. It’s the melody a talented jazz musician carries in their heart and hums over and over until they connect with their band mates, and their instrument, to give that feeling a sound, a life. Education goes beyond the binding of a textbook and teaches us the ultimate value of teamwork, respect, accountability, leadership, and balance. Education is anything and everything that keeps us curious and inspired, keeps us growing and discovering with each question asked, each lesson learned - no matter what tools we carry. Education sparks an energy in all of us to wonder and to explore. And just as we set off to school, education slips a note in our backpack that says, “Don’t worry about being the smartest person in the room. Be the one most willing to learn.”