Christine Laurenzi had what she called a "come to Jesus" moment a few years ago as a teacher in the Florida school system. After teaching at a few schools in the Tampa Bay area, she set out on her own to create a school that employs what many teachers were taught: individualized, project-based learning is the key to student success.
"(I was thinking) Do I work a corporate job and make four times the money or do this?" she said. "These schools exist (across the nation) and it's kind of a blessing that Florida is behind the times, because we’re the first one here. But individualizing is what you're supposed to do. I could see the problems across all demographics, and the same solutions exist and are possible. It's about getting the freedom to make it possible."
In 2016, Laurenzi launched Indi-ED, a St. Petersburg school that bills itself as "School Reimagined for the 21st Century." She started with 12 students and through word of mouth, has reached its capacity of roughly 32 students currently. Over 200 families have called Laurenzi, interested in the program.
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"They come from private, public, charter, home schools," she said. "It's people who are looking for that 'something else.' For the private schools, there's no freedom and home schools have the freedom, but need the community. It solves problems for a bit of everyone."
She added in the first year, over 80 percent of the students' parents were business owners, which she attributed to entrepreneurs' typically-willingness to think outside-the-box.
The appeal: students at the school are grouped by skill level, not age. The morning is "integrated content" or traditional skills such as math and science and the afternoons are "inquiry based,"where students have the freedom to do individual projects that fit within the unit's chosen framework.
Laurenzi believes going out into the community, to meet with leaders or demonstrate skills such as compassion by visiting a nursing home, will help mold and grow the ecosystem in the coming years. For example, during a unit on "innovation," a student was interested in building his own app, so he and three other students visited and sat down with a FairWarning executive.
"One girl, after being in the room, hit the elevator button and said 'I want to work for this company when I grow up,'" Laurenzi said. "And that's something in this area that business owners need to see: spend a few hours with them and they will be solving the company’s problems in a few years."
Her next step is eventually looking for a larger space that can accommodate 100-125 students and create a board of directors.
"But my focus has to be the kids right now," she said.
