A strong sense of community is a core tenet of Innovation Lab. We started early with the Trailblazers Event just over two months ago and wanted to add an outdoor gathering to bring everyone back together before the frantic rush toward finals. 20-25 students made an appearance and a bunch hung out for a casual conversation about education. During the event, a GHS senior who is on an internship at the Greenwich Free Press stopped by and wrote up a summary of the afternoon. We’ll let Uma Ramesh’s words serve as the majority of our wrap-up today.

After Uma interviewed a handful of our students, I spontaneously asked them what they would study if the school gave them a whole week to learn whatever they wanted. One student wanted to explore a new language, another was curious about her heritage, and a third was curious about the DNA mapping service 23andme that’s gone viral and has been banned by the government. Interests spanned the subject areas and their ideas were rooted in the lessons our schools have already taught them. We hope Innovation Lab can continue to present new areas of interest and provide students the space to explore those areas about which they’re obviously so passionate.