For this Colorado 'micro-school,' the classroom is a bike shop and cafe
DENVER — Don’t be surprised if you order a drink at Denver’s Pinwheel Coffee and see a child making your latte; they’re just doing classwork.
Pinwheel Coffee and the neighboring Framework Cycles, a bike shop, are part of Embark, a “micro-school” serving middle schoolers in Denver. Twenty-eight students are enrolled at Embark, which is run by Great Work, Inc., a nonprofit with a mission of expanding Montessori education.
A school administrator told Rocky Mountain PBS that Embark, located in the Highlands neighborhood, is not technically classified as a Montessori school, though it uses many of the same principles. Students work at the cafe and bike shop as part of their studies.
“We think about education just very differently,” explained Brian Hyosaka, an educator at Embark who will be head of the school next year. “Our education centers on the learners, but it also centers on this idea that learning needs to be contextualized, embedded and really owned by students.”
Embark opened in 2019. According to Chalkbeat Colorado, 40 percent of those enrolled are students of color. The school is tuition-free, though there is an application process. By making enrollment free, Hyosaka says Embark is able to reach people who otherwise would not have the opportunity for such hands-on, specialized learning. (The middle school tuition at the Montessori School of Denver, for comparison, is $24,000, which is about the same as CU Denver’s in-state tuition.)
Hyosaka said when the school was first created, founders asked themselves “who traditionally has access to these sorts of learning experiences and environments?”
“And the answer has been that a wealthy, privileged clientele has been the ones who typically know of these schools or can afford them. And so part of our thinking is, 'How do we break down those barriers?'” he said. “We are intentionally tuition-free to live our values of equity and anti-bias and anti-racism.”
It’s not just macchiatos and mountain bikes for the students at Embark. The students make their own schedules, but they still must study science, math and language the way students in more traditional schools do. But at Embark, that learning is embedded in the two local businesses the students help run.
Hyosaka gave an example: many of the seasonal coffee drinks on the menu at Pinwheel Coffee were created by the students. “You know, that required them to learn about drink chemistry, learn about profitability [and] market research around ‘would this sort of drink sell?’” he explained, adding that the students especially enjoyed the taste testing. The school’s website provides more examples.
“I just feel like I learn better in this situation,” said Lea Gentry, an eighth grader at Embark. “I know I can be my inner self. At other schools, I couldn’t bring my inner child out, but now I know at Embark, I can.”
Maverick Smith, in seventh grade, said learning at Embark is “a lot more free.”
“They give us a lot more time to do our own work, really,” Smith said. “It’s not just about making lattes, I guess.”
Brian Willie is the Content Production Manager at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can contact him at brianwillie@rmpbs.org.
Kyle Cooke is the digital media manager at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at kylecooke@rmpbs.org.