I have no special talent I am only passionately curious.
~Albert Einstein
In the fall of 1996, the Kodiak Baptist Mission transitioned from a residential treatment home for youth and because of this lost 90% of their budget from state funding. My father-in-law, Evan J. Jones, then interim director of the Mission, described the original model as being at the bottom of a cliff trying to help those that had fallen off and not being able to fully help. The Mission decided to go to the top of the cliff and put up a fence with more preventive types of ministry with a preschool, day camp, and afterschool. Starting with the Kodiak Baptist
Orphanage on Woody Island, KBM has been serving families of Kodiak since 1893. The Mission didn’t want to stop doing our core beliefs and declined the $500,000 annual funding from the state of Alaska they had been dependent on for years.
The Compass Classroom and our new “sense of place” posits the question how can we move away from the fence and still serve the families of Kodiak? The art of Kaizen, a Japanese term for the term for change for the better or continuous improvement, embodies that change happens slowly and methodically. Sometimes change happens with having conversations. My friend
Katie, after seeing the litter left at our local athletic field after a volleyball game, seeks changes with the youth of Kodiak. She is starting a conversation online and in our community that will hopefully lead to better decisions about our youth and the kids of Kodiak.
Passion often fuels change. Katie's passion for a great, clean, and safe play space for her daughters benefits all of Kodiak.
My brother's passion for self-improvement and knowledge benefits me when he gives me books to read and discussing his ideas. He recently gave me Peter Atia's new book Outlive: the science of art and longevity. Like Albert Einstein, Peter is
passionately curious and seeks new ways to embrace medicine rather than being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. He has a different take on medicine, where medicine offers people the resources to thrive, living longer and better. He is starting the conversation. I am passionately curious. Being passionately curious in the classroom with my tiny students over the last eight years has been my joy.
This passion for curiosity bids me to wonder about our current educational system. It bids me to wonder what I can do to spark change, albeit slowly. I am starting the conversation….. by offering classes ranging from bread making to nature exploration, art, and storytelling. I am writing. I am sharing ideas. I am starting a podcast. What are you passionately curious about? Start a conversation and let's see the change happen!
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