As the school year comes to a close, now is the natural time to take a look back and reflect on the year as a whole.
Coming into ESTEAM as one of the youngest Heroes my primary goals for my daughter were that she would get comfortable with her surroundings, learn the terms and systems, and make friends. I wasn’t particularly concerned about her academic progress, and felt comfortable with the idea that she would take that challenge upon herself when she was ready. In reality, she achieved all these and so much more.
It took her roughly the first half of the year to get comfortable talking to the guides, understanding the systems of accountability, etc. During this time she didn’t tell us much about her day or show any particular interest in the quests and core subjects, but she seemed happy and I knew she had made friends, so as a parent I was content with where she was at.
At some point she brought home her first certificate of accomplishment for mastering her shapes. While this is knowledge I knew she already possessed, it is still an accomplishment to persevere through distraction and complete the work required. We celebrated her achievement, and she was off and running. For the remainder of the year she continued to bring home certificates documenting her milestones in various subjects including math and reading.
At this time, she also started bringing home her core work to complete in between breaks, and she would often talk of working during her breaks at school.
She also took it upon herself to volunteer for various roles in the studio, and showed real growth in her leadership abilities and overall responsibility. As a parent we want to think that we are helping to shape our children, and to some degree we certainly are, but in this case I think the biggest thing I did was to step back and give her the space to become who she truly is.
Only time will tell if this drive is a core part of her personality or something more fleeting, but I do know that it is something she can access when she innately cares about the goal. I believe that by entering into this system at such a young age we have laid a strong foundation for her to find her true self and achieve her full potential. It is for this opportunity that my family will always be grateful to ESTEAM Academy.
About the Author: Daniel, father of 2, new Tribe members as of the 2020-2021 School Year and New Explorers Studio Guide.
