As an entrepreneurial person, I love fixing broken things in whatever industry I’m in. And growing up, I remember over and over again just wondering what was the point of my schooling. Most of the time I didn’t see the application to what I was learning. I saw it as a game… if you get good grades and do what you are told, you are at peace with adults. Fast forward to college, and the model continued; appease, regurgitate information, then delete the information after I took the test.
After I started my first company, I found myself using skills I learned outside of school. A lot of these skills were built into athletics and leadership opportunities I had been given as a young person. Outside of school I was taught valuable skills that allowed me to build human things with other humans.
Fast forward to Rebecca and I having kids in school and we saw how much time kids are investing in this broken model that isn’t delivering and we thought there had to be a better way. My oldest son was in first grade and for the first time I recognized that my influence in his life was about to shrink by 90% and school was going to take my place… yet the system hadn’t changed in the last 20 years. Right there we decided that after I sold my business, I would set my sights on a more philanthropic project that would help my children and build a model of education that could help whole communities thrive. And that’s where the Liberty Launch dream was born. We would build the kind of school I wished I had.
In 2018, we sold our company and began the process of building this school to develop real life skills using the tools of sports, entrepreneurship, and internships. We would help children develop grit, perseverance, critical thinking, courage and make sure they would not fear failure. We would create interesting experiences for kids so that they could say “hey, I’d really enjoy this type of career or business, maybe even start my own business”. Most kids just need to be engaged, need to feel that spark to connect what they are learning to their future.
We are really excited to help develop WHOLE humans. No child or parent should be just a number that the school system ignores. And as the model for the school began to take shape, so did our vision for parents. We saw an opportunity to give parents more time with their kids and we saw an opportunity to build a community – “the village” it would take to raise our kids.
With the school at the center, we began to create spaces that would help parents live simpler lives while staying connected with their children. What we call the Mode Campus, houses work, fitness, wellness & creative opportunities for everyone in the family. We see a vision where you come to school & work together in the morning, see each other during the day and enjoy activities that boost health, wellness & creativity.
At the end of the day, Rebecca and I are parents just like you that want our kids to find purpose, meaning and success in a world that desperately needs principled leaders, and we feel privileged to partner with parents on this journey to fix our broken education system.
~ Luke
