Explore: Y7, S7, W1
Passion Projects, Studio Ownership, and Finishing Strong
Click here to see pictures from this session.
Explore Studio began Session 7 with a question worthy of the end of the year: What goal is worthy of a small piece of my life this session?
In Monday’s Morning Launch, learners reflected on the story of a maestro who gave years of practice, discipline, and attention to his craft. From there, they created their Session-Long Goals, naming what they hope to achieve by the end of this final session in math, language arts, typing, reading, and other core skills. These goals are now visible in the Studio as a daily reminder of the growth they are choosing to pursue.
In Quest, learners launched their Personal Passion Projects. This week, they completed their Quest Maps, each one representing a self-designed learning journey for the session. They brainstormed possible passions, narrowed their ideas, built SMART plans, received peer feedback, and prepared to pitch their projects. The challenge is to design a path that is meaningful, challenging, and clear enough to guide their work over the next several weeks.
Learners also demonstrated real ownership of their Studio this week. They ran their own Council elections with practically no Guide intervention, showing that they are increasingly capable of managing leadership and responsibility as a community. A team of learners also took on the work of restructuring the Studio Maintenance system. They reviewed the jobs, estimated how much time each one actually required, and redistributed responsibilities in a way that better fits the time available. Along the way, they discovered that some jobs needed less time, while others needed to be adjusted to better balance the daily load. The result is now visible in the Studio: a laminated poster with jobs, pins, and names that clearly represents personal responsibility.
Writers’ Workshop turned toward reflection. Learners began their Year in Review books, which will become a memory time capsule from this year. They drafted title pages, “All About Me” pages, and began thinking about how they want to capture themselves at this point in their lives. Later in the week, they explored six-word memoirs, trying to tell something true about themselves in only six words before creating self-portraits for their books.
In Art, learners explored one of the oldest and hardest questions: What is art? They compared Michelangelo’s Pietà with Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain and debated whether art is more about skill, beauty, meaning, courage, originality, or challenging assumptions. They also created an Art Wheel of Chance, filled with different mediums that they will spin to decide what kind of art to explore. On Thursday, the wheel led them to yarn bombing. Because of the rain, the work happened inside the Studio, where learners used yarn to decorate and transform different Studio elements.
Physical Development had a World Cup spirit this week. Learners selected countries to represent from the 2026 FIFA World Cup participants and began soccer drills to prepare. They connected the “final third” of the soccer field to the final session of the year: a place where focus, planning, courage, and strong finishing matter.
Our Black Slope outing took us to the Lady Bird Lake Hike and Bike Trail, especially the area around the Wishbone Bridge. It was a very hot afternoon, but learners showed toughness and flexibility as they walked for over an hour in the heat. Along the way, they experienced the mix of nature, city, and public art near the bridge, met a YouTuber and a street vendor, and experimented with the acoustics inside the mosaic-covered artistic tunnel.
We also had two meaningful lunch moments this week. During Lunch Club, a team of four learners prepared quesadillas, edamame, and fruit salad for the Studio. On Thursday, learners welcomed future Explorers with a tarp lunch on the floor in a circle. They prepared name tags, introduced themselves, and created a warm environment for new learners to feel received and begin getting to know the Studio.
Another beautiful example of leadership came through the Growing Curiosity Quest. This was a Quest designed by Explorers last session for their younger fellow travelers in Discovery. This week, the first team of learners facilitated the filmmaking portion of the Quest, giving Discoverers a chance to learn from older learners and experience a mini Quest created by them.
We ended the week with Crazy Hair Day, birthday ceremonies, and continued practice in what it means to “pass and move” as a Studio: listening carefully, building on each other’s ideas, challenging respectfully, and helping the group think and work well together.
