Or maybe you want to stay engaged, creative, and productive this year but just don't know where to start.
Introducing:
DEVELOP YOUR LEADERSHIP CAPACITY
Receive access to an OnDemand video curriculum with all the tools you need to create a self-directed project.
FIND YOUR PROJECT
Your Creativity + A Problem in Our World = Opportunity to Make a Difference
WATCH WORKSHOP SESSIONS
Watch past workshop sessions with me (Bonnie), where we brainstorm ideas, give and receive feedback, and troubleshoot problems.
LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF
What are my core values?
What am I really good at?
What do I love to do?
COLLABORATE ON DISCORD
Collaborate with a community of motivated peers via a private Discord community. Make personal connections, find accountability buddies, and work in teams.
CREATE A PLAN
Whether you decide to launch your project, or just explore a new interest, you’ll have the tools and resources to make it happen.
-Linda, Uncommon Summer Student
- How to identify your core values and how they manifest in your life
- How do you lead? Are you more comfortable out front (envisioning big ideas) or in a supporting role (helping others get things done)?
- Receive access to an OnDemand video curriculum with all the tools you need to create, launch, and level-up your self-directed project
- Receive access to our recorded workshop sessions with me (Bonnie), where we brainstorm ideas, give and receive feedback on each other’s projects, and troubleshoot problems and roadblocks as a group
- Read and watch a curated selection of great articles & videos about how to grow as a self-directed learner and generally become a more thoughtful and productive person
- You'll join a community of your peers where you'll connect, collaborate, and share ideas
You’ll also learn practical skills, such as how to:
- Remain calm in the face of adversity
- Identify problems in your community that matter to you and how to brainstorm potential solutions
- Avoid the pitfalls of perfectionism
- Scope a project (to avoid potential overwhelm)
- Use the internet (better) to research your project
- Write an effective vision and mission statement
- Create a to-do list and schedule that works
And yes, we realize many students are balancing other priorities. That’s why all the homework for this course is optional.
This program is for students who:
- Want to brainstorm a cool project idea to keep them busy
- Have a lot of creative ideas, but need some structure in order to put them into practice
- Are already working on a project and looking for more ideas/tools/inspiration
- Want to make a tangible contribution to their community or the larger world
- Don't have an idea for a project, but simply want to learn more about who they are and how they work
The OnDemand curriculum is made up of 19 exercises that give you all the tools you'll need to undertake a self-directed project, from start to finish.
We start with building capacity as a self-directed learner and leader, and finish with tools for marketing and reaching a wider audience.
You’ll have the guidance of the OnDemand videos, the Uncommon Workbook to hold all your work in one place, and the Uncommon Discord Community to workshop and share ideas.
- Designing a line of up-cycled clothing and selling it on Depop Publishing a photography website
- Producing a podcast about space flight
- Creating a virtual speaker series at your school
- Renovating a bedroom
- Launching a food or clothing drive
- Constructing native bee boxes in a local county park
- Designing and creating a garden
- Designing an online course to teach people how to build their own computers
- Hand printing t-shirts and donating the proceeds to racial equity organizations
- Launching an online custom illustration business on Etsy
- Finding interesting ways to help homeschool your younger siblings
- Building or renovating a bedroom, treehouse, or car
- Writing or producing a book, podcast, album, film, app, video game
- Organizing a virtual talent show, hackathon, poetry slam, storytelling night, concert, art show
- Creating a virtual career day panel to speak to students about their paths
-Brittney, Uncommon Summer Student
Hi, I’m Bonnie!
As soon as I arrived in high school, I felt like something was off. My school’s academic and social environment wasn’t a good fit for me.
Luckily, one of my friends gave me a copy of the Teenage Liberation Handbook. It seemed a little radical, but the author was actually advocating for ambitious students to drop out of high school as a strategy for getting into college and pursuing their dreams. I realized that I could probably be more productive outside of school, so I made the leap!
After I quit full-time school, I signed up for correspondence courses, volunteered at a local nonprofit, worked in construction, slung coffee (as we say in Seattle), traveled for several months in Australia and Fiji, learned to surf, taught English in Japan, attended community college, and then finished the International Baccalaureate at an international school in Norway.
When college applications came around, I was accepted to every university that I applied to, with full scholarship offers at most. After taking a gap year, I went to Stanford for a BA in History, then moved to Sweden, where I completed an MFA at Konstfack. I worked for a number of years as a producer with the Stanford Storytelling Project, and now I am back in my native Seattle, working as a writer, editor, and academic coach.
Those un-schooling years were truly formative in my life, and I'm grateful that I took that initial risk of doing something different with my time in high school. While I don’t think that dropping out of school is a good idea for everybody, especially students who are happy, I do think that learning to recognize one’s own sense of purpose and taking action toward fulfilling it can help one live a more authentic life.
That’s my goal with this program: to help you find your sense of purpose, and take action toward fulfilling it. And perhaps it will make your college application more competitive as well.
