It’s the last day of school at Learnlife's Urban Hub in Barcelona. I arrive as the older sister of a Changemaker, holding a bowl of pasta salad for a potluck celebrating the start of summer vacation. I spend the afternoon talking to learners about their experience at this school; I have never encountered a room of teenagers more emotionally aware, eloquent, and connected to what drives them.
Before the potluck commences, a microphone is handed around for ‘much loves’, an opportunity for members of the community to voice their appreciation, for their learning guides, friends, and role models. Students sling their arms around classmates' shoulders, listening. I notice how open this community feels, how much pride each person takes in showing their love.
“The main reason I moved from Germany to Spain was because of Learnlife. Of course, that was a big move, but it's the best move we could’ve done." Louis was the first learner I spoke to, his family isn’t the only one who relocated their lives for this school. Learnlife is one of the reasons my own family came to Barcelona. I have watched my brother Evan explore his passion for building and engineering, gaining credit as he built a go-kart with his classmate. He learned to weld, wire an electrical motor, create a budget, and gained recognition for the success of his project within the community. I have seen him being challenged by AP Calculus and English, making and selling wooden spoons, and being supported by his mentor Mich. What I hadn’t seen until now was the way Learn Life created these opportunities and spaces for every single one of its students.
I asked each learner to tell me about their experience, how they were learning, and what they appreciated most about their school. “When I joined everyone had a passion, they had their thing, I wanted to have my thing too.” Eden told me it took her two years at Learnlife to find what she was really interested in. Two years to shed the idea taught in traditional school that your passions are of no consequence to your education. Now she is the ambassador for the fashion studio, helping to teach classes, take care of the space, gaining competencies through community initiative, collaboration among her peers and even math.
“We're taught to pursue our passions,” Samir, a student in this year’s graduating class told me. “We're taught essential life skills, like emotional management, self-autonomy, time management, and many more things, something you find nowhere else.”
Samir was one of the first learners who joined the school in 2019. This fall he is attending TETR, an international university where he will be studying as well as doing business, travelling to 7 countries across a 4 year degree. “When I look at my friends who went to other international schools, I feel I'm 10 times more prepared than they are for the real world.”
“That’s the difference between other schools,” Phil, a current changemaker, told me. “You can take APs, you can do classical biology here and Learn Life prepares you for the real world.” This is not a school where the study is restricted to academics or even the pursuit of passions and interests. “I feel like learning how to be yourself here has been the biggest life-changing thing,” Martina, another graduate said. “When you're in a traditional school system, they make you feel like you need to fit in. Here it's the space that adapts for you.” Through individual mentorship, the learning guides help create this space for each student, for not only their academic but emotional wellbeing. “I was really insecure about myself before I came to Learnlife”, Lua, a current explorer, reflected. “Everybody welcomed me here. They taught me how to appreciate myself. This school has boosted my confidence so, so much. And I love it.”
Lorenzo, another student in the graduating class, told me how his rite of passage, the transition between each learning level, is something he will take far beyond his education. Lorenzo’s rite of passage was to spend a week doing absolutely nothing. He explained how this was his mentor Nicole’s idea, she noticed the way he was obsessed with always having a project or something to occupy him. “It took 2.5 days for my mind to calm down. The monkey mind tries to grab onto everything, seek for distraction, something to do. I felt extremely useless, I really struggled. But eventually you accept it and you're just like, okay.” he told me this story with such self-awareness. His accomplishment of a challenge most of us would refuse to face filled him with a confidence anyone could see.
The phrase ‘Life-changing’ was one I heard many times that afternoon but never was it used as hyperbole. As I stepped back onto the tree-shaded square that Learnlife calls home, I reflected on my own high school experience. I couldn’t help feeling jealous. I wish I’d had the opportunity to go to a school where each child is seen, for who they are and who they are becoming in equal measure.