Ali Kaufman's Journey from Gifted Program to Innovative Learning Spaces Redefining Education

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The episode centers on Ali Kaufman, an innovator in the field of education, who discusses her transformative school, Space of Mind. We explore how personalized learning experiences can nurture creativity, reduce stress, and foster a love of knowledge, ultimately setting students up for life success.

• Introduction to Ali Kaufman and Space of Mind 
• Overview of Ali's educational philosophy and experiences 
• Discussion on creating a personalized curriculum for diverse learning styles 
• Examination of the emotional impacts of traditional education 
• Introduction to the Community Classroom Project and its goals 
• Vision for the future of education and plans for expansion 
• Closing thoughts on the importance of individualized learning experiences

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https://twinteriors.com/podcast/

https://scottwoolley.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following podcast iDesign Lab is an SW Group
production in association withFive Star and TW Interiors.
This is iDesign Lab, a podcastwhere creativity and curiosity
meet style and design.
Curator of interiors,furnishings and lifestyles.
Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, aninterior designer and a style

(00:22):
enthusiast, along with herserial entrepreneur husband
Scott, idesign Lab is yourultimate design podcast where we
explore the rich and vibrantworld of design and its constant
evolution in style and trends.
Idesign Lab provides industryinsight, discussing the latest
trends, styles and everything inbetween to better help you
style your life, through advicefrom trendsetters, designers,

(00:45):
influencers, innovators,fabricators and manufacturers,
as well as personal stories thatinspire, motivate and excite.
And join us on this elevated,informative and lively journey
into the world of all thingsdesign.
Welcome to the iDesign Labpodcast.
Today we're excited to haveAllie Kaufman, founder and CEO

(01:05):
of Space of Mind, atransformative school in Delray
Beach, florida, where she's beendesigning new ways to make
education more engaging and lessstressful for over 20 years.
Allie has re-imagined thedesign of learning, promoting
creativity and alternativelearning styles.
She's also the founder of theCommunity Classroom Project,
designing a more inclusive andequitable approach to education.

(01:27):
When she's not designing change, allie enjoys life by the ocean
with her dog, Oscar.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Today I am so excited to welcome Allie Kaufman to the
iDesign Lab podcast.
I'm really excited because thisis design on a totally
different level.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Designing a curriculum and designing a
school.
Designing education anddesigning education, which is so
on par with the way we designour life today on every level,
from a diet to our home or ourlifestyle Curriculum really is

(02:06):
something that can be and needsto be designed.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
We sit and talk to a lot of people from all different
walks of life with this podcastbut, like this is the first
time I think we're sitting withsomeone like what we're going to
talk about really matters.
It's true, like sitting with amusic artist or a decorator or a
builder.
They're just like things thatyou know.
Education like really.

(02:29):
And children, yeah, and you'redesigning like an education for
children.
You have this amazing school.
First, tell us, I think, tellus about yourself.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
Like how did you get to a?
Well, that's like a wholepodcast in and of itself, but I
grew up with an education thatwas the way the gifted program
was originally designed when Iwas in elementary school in the
early 80s was creative, it wascollaborative, it was autonomous
.
We got to design a lot of whatwe did based on what we were

(03:02):
excited about and our teachersknew enough to get out of our
way and let us do that.
And I was taught early, like inthird grade, ms Williams taught
us how to run a think tank andwhat are the rules of
brainstorming and we, you know,we were doing project-based
learning in this small giftedclass in a public school in Boca

(03:26):
, where there was a group of usthat, for whatever reason, we
kind of hit this jackpot and gotpulled out of our regular
classes for half a day inelementary school and we stayed
kind of a learning team inmiddle school and then in high
school and we got really lucky.
We had the continuity of carewith our teachers who knew us

(03:46):
throughout all those years.
We knew each other, nurtured,we were nurtured and we were,
you know, without sounding ego-y, we were told and taught that
we were special, like we weregiven leadership skills, we were
growing up with confidence and,you know, we were taught to
advocate in all the best ways,right, like, oh, you have this

(04:07):
idea, let's go figure out who inthe administration can help us
make it possible.
And because we were givenaccess to these leadership
skills and taught to communicateand also make mistakes, given
the space to do that, we hadthese different opportunities.
So it's not an accident as weall found ourselves again in the

(04:27):
Facebook age and many of usstayed friends all these years
that two things seem to be verytrue.
One, most of us were diagnosedas adults with some kind of
attention or anxiety or autisticsituation, and also most of us
were doing very entrepreneurial,leadership based things and

(04:49):
designing careers for ourselvesthat were really based on the
passion that we were taught tostoke all those years and that's
what kind of inspired me tocome back around and that's the
that's the stuff I pull from,but it doesn't.
That gifted program doesn'texist anymore it's been sort of
rewired into a.

(05:09):
You know all about rigor andand stress.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
So did you come out of school like going into an
education job or where?
Did you start like in yourcareer.

Speaker 4 (05:22):
I went to college, I wanted to be a rabbi.
Really I didn't want to likehave a synagogue or anything.
That's sort of more of a, Ithink you know kind of a
political position, almost youknow.
But I wanted to work with youthand I grew up, I spent 17
summers at Sleepaway Camp andyouth group and, just like the

(05:43):
communal relationships and youknow where you're taught in
those settings and I think evenin my educational setting to
have faith in yourself.
Right Like I got to college Irealized I don't think a
religious career was for me.
But I never lost that passionfor working with kids.
So even in college I wasrunning an after-school program

(06:06):
for kids in the town where myschool was.
I was always tutoring on theside or babysitting or running a
youth group.
I would have never made it in atraditional school.
I would have quit or been fired.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
So where did you end up after college?

Speaker 4 (06:20):
So I worked in the restaurant industry after
college.
I opened a number of cheesecakefactories around the country
that's so interesting.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, I loved it.

Speaker 4 (06:27):
It was so much fun.
My parents were freaking outLike we paid for you to go to
Brandeis and now you're likeworking in restaurants.
I'm like it's all going to cometogether.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
I don't know what it's going to look like yet, but
just let me do this.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
And then after that I was running some small
businesses for other smallbusiness owners.
One of them was actually aninterior design company, and so
I saw how that all worked.
I always imagined I would havemy own business before I was 30.

(07:00):
But I landed in a corporatesoftware development world at
sort of the height of the techboom in Boston and this company
had been.
It was called Rational Softwareand they had created the
unified modeling language andthe lifecycle that all software
developers use universally todesign software.

(07:21):
So I had a poster on my wall ofthe software lifecycle process
and I was in corporatecommunications.
I was writing about howsoftware was changing the world.
But I, you know, I lovedhanging out with the programmers
and everyone was so creativeand it was really exciting time
to be in tech and and thesoftware development lifecycle.
The testing phase of thelifecycle cycle is the largest

(07:45):
phase.
It takes the longest and thedevelopers are doing everything
they can to get the product tofail the test right.
With the understanding thatthey're trying to know,
understand what they don't yetknow, to make the product better
.
And at the same time, I wasworking with a family.
I lived in Cambridge,massachusetts at the time and I
was working with a family downthe block who had three kids and

(08:06):
it was a very cluttered home.
A lot of hoarding was going onthere and chaos, and one of the
kids had autism and was reallystruggling with test anxiety in
school and for whatever reason.
One day it clicked.
I was staring at the poster andI realized that when developers
are developing, they get theproduct to as good as it's going

(08:30):
to get, they release it andthey immediately start working
on the next version so there'snever an expectation of
perfection in the design lifecycle right
and in school it's totally theopposite.
You get one shot, you pass thetest, you fail the test, but no
teacher is taking the timegenerally to pull you aside and
be like you know, before we moveon, let's go over what you

(08:52):
didn't get right.
I want to make sure youunderstand it.
So kids are being forced tomove forward without the whole
picture.
And then there's all theemotions that go with that, like
a sense of failure, a sense ofyou know frustration, whatever
it.
You know frustration, whateverit is.
And so I kind of put thattogether, started understanding.
You know, life coaching wassort of becoming a path at that
point and this was like 2002, Iguess and just started sort of

(09:19):
understanding that there's a wayto make the learning process
better.
And really understanding becauseI was diagnosed at the end of
college with ADHD and did a deepdive into what that meant or
yeah, into my own brain likeright because I remember when I
was a kid, certain things wereso easy and other things were
really hard for me and easierfor my friends, and I was always

(09:41):
told that I was smart.
But I didn't always get thebest grades because, you know,
homework was not my jam.
And so you know it was a lot ofreconciling my whole life at
that point too.
So I started to really takethis.
You know all the neurology andyou know working memory and

(10:02):
understanding how even my timein the restaurant industry I was
, so I was working out myworking memory every day.
Right, our working memory isthe brain's ability to remember,
to pay attention to what you'repaying attention to, and in the
restaurant industry it's how Imade my money.
I would wow tables of like 10by like, taking their whole

(10:23):
order and never writing anythingdown, and sometimes, if I
thought they were cool, I wouldask them to double down on their
tip if I didn't forget anything.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Oh, I love it.
Then we would just play alittle game, right.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
So, and it was.
It kept me on my toes but I,you know, I was working out my
brain in that, in that field.
So I understood a lot about howthere are strengths and
weaknesses to attention andorganization and how anxiety
played into all of that.
So it just sort of evolved tocome to Space of Mind and start

(10:54):
off the company which I startedin 2004, moving back to Florida
as a coaching company.
So my first group of clientswere actually CEOs.

Speaker 3 (11:02):
But what made you pick up?
Move from Boston to?

Speaker 2 (11:07):
The weather, I mean, I regret it every day, I'm not
kidding, I miss.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
Boston, so much.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
I love Boston too.

Speaker 4 (11:13):
I would move back tomorrow, but I don't regret it
really.
I moved back for my family Atthe time.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
my dad was sick and my grandmothers were doing great
, but you decide you're nowgoing to design your life around
coaching people yeah, well,actually I had come down with
the idea of opening um.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
I had been running this designer clothing
consignment shop for a couple ofyears before um I moved back
and because the tech company hadbeen sold to IBM and I wasn't
really down with that.
I wasn't big corporate girl,I'm more like indie and so I was
out one night at a bar actuallywearing this really cool denim

(11:52):
jacket it's vintage jacket andthe manager of the store where I
bought it recognized it and itcame from this designer
consignment shop in HarvardSquare and we got into talking
and it turned out she wasleaving the job, so I just took
the job the next day.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
It was really a random pivot for me.
Isn't that amazing, though,allowing life to just play out
that leads you to things likethat.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
And I've met so many professors and students and
really cool people in that role.
But I was running this businessfor the owner, who kind of let
me alone, so it was a greatopportunity to really take
everything I learned to thatpoint.
But it was time for me to comeback to Florida.
I just felt it personally.

(12:35):
So I took a summer off.
After I left the shop and wrotemy business plan in the Harvard
Library my friend would likesneak me in and came back and
started.
And well, I came home betweenhurricanes Francis and Jean.
So I you know I got home likearound after Labor Day and then
really kicked things off inNovember.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
And was it called space of mind, and how did that
name come so?

Speaker 4 (13:00):
initially I was going to open a consignment shop
called Too Good to Be New andoffer coaching from the shop,
because I was working with up inBoston, women primarily who
were really cluttered in theirclosets, who were shopping
sometimes for all the wrongstuff and sometimes for all the
right stuff, but they didn'tknow how to organize it and

(13:20):
getting dressed in the morningwas really stressful.
So I would go to their homes andhelp them organize.
And then obviously it broughtin more clothes to the store
which was like you know, wecould do fun parties and things
like that.
So I really came home with theidea of doing that.
And then, right before I wasgoing to sign a lease for a shop
on Atlantic Avenue, I was likeI don't want to deal with season
and retail and all of that.

(13:41):
So you know, we just did kindof consignment on the side and I
was just going and working withpeople in their homes.
But my initial clients actually, you know I was working with,
you know, women in theirclothing closets.
I was working with a group ofCEOs most all men really and
flying around the country andgoing to their spots, and then I

(14:05):
was working with hoarders andso I had these three groups.
Hoarders how fascinating, oh myGod.
That was my favorite part ofthe work but ultimately I was
getting physically sick.
It wasn't like the healthiestenvironment always to be in.
But I really think I got like aPhD in psychology from these,

(14:29):
from working in all three typesof groups.
I was having the sameconversation whether it was a
CEO with ADD who couldn'tcommunicate well with their
executive assistant, who wasvery like you know like a
straight and great type A, or abusy mom who was trying to get

(14:49):
like a household of differenttypes of learners to work
together.
And then I had, you know, myclients who were hoarders, who
were really living in desperatesituations.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
How do you get clients like that?

Speaker 4 (15:01):
Word of mouth.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
Is it word of mouth?

Speaker 4 (15:03):
I mean it was was eventually but my first few
clients.
I went to Barnes and Noble andI put myself in the self-help
section and I just talked toanyone who grabbed a book really
yeah unbelievable yeah so thatand then, like you, have the
gift of talking to anybody.
I obviously I like talking, Ilike learning about people and I

(15:25):
, yeah, and also when you'relike, I moved home at age 29
into my parents' house, so itwas like, how fast can I get out
of here, right?
So I was, you know, reallyready to.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
So how long were you doing that?
Until you started to puttogether what we know as Space
of Mind today, about four?

Speaker 4 (15:42):
years.
We know his space of mind.
Today, about four years, Istarted to really in 2008,
understand that it wasschool-related stress.
That was the piece that I waspassionate about.
So I was still working withsome people in each of those
three core groups, but thehoarders I was getting sick.

(16:04):
That wasn't sustainable and, um, working in the executive
environment wasn't always funand I found that like, honestly,
boring it wasn't boring, but itwas frustrating.
They weren't willing to move,they weren't willing to change.
Yeah, right like ceos and I'mone of them like we're kind of
stubborn, so working in thefamily, like in the home.

(16:26):
A couple of things were truefor me.
The dads would come into theconversation right when, if
you're doing something in atherapeutic setting, it's
usually like one parent isdriving the kids to therapy and
like the other parent isn'treally getting the whole
situation.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
Same with like a school meeting right.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
You don't always get both parents fully present or
present physically at a schoolmeeting either.
But I would be able to go to ahome and sit with an entire
family on a Saturday morning.
And because it was a novelthing, because this wasn't
therapy we could all just talkabout, like how to make life at
home easier.
Where were all the hot spots,like, was it homework time, was

(17:07):
it bedtime, was it early morning?
Right, like what was happeningand what could we work on?
And what I found was that andthis is the same for the
breakdown in classrooms, theparent is usually communicating
or leading from the way thatthey learn and communicate.
So if you're a verbal person,you're going to be verbally
telling your kids what you want.

(17:27):
But if your kids are visual orkinesthetic or require all three
you can't expect that.
They've heard you right.
So then things tend to blow up,or if you pile something on
that weird counter desk ineveryone's kitchen that nobody
really knows what to do with.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
I call it the junk shop.

Speaker 4 (17:49):
So families were going and they were getting a
$5,000 psychological assessmenton the kid, trying to fix the
kid, because all the problemswere perceived to be coming from
the child.
It's actually the system rightand it's everyone within the
system, but then they're payingfive grand to get this testing
done and I would find the reportin the middle of the pile of

(18:12):
papers on the weird like did youeven read this?
no, and the report's 50 pages soyou know, and the important
stuff is at the end.
So parents are usually readingfrom the front and it's scary
and and you know, and then theback is like here's all the
recommendations of what to do.
So I was finding that thesefamilies weren't actually taking
the recommendations they paidfor.

(18:33):
So we started there.
Most of the time, the familieshad information on what could
make their lives better, butthey had forgotten they had it
or were not sure how to startwith it.
And eventually I started, youknow, becoming a liaison to the
therapists or the teachers andgoing into IEP meetings in the
schools and.
I'm not afraid to go where I'venever gone before.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
So even though I was, sort of coming at this from.
That's a good entrepreneur.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
Yeah, and so I was coming at this from all.
Right, I'm going to figure itout.
Right, and I really saw thedisconnect that therapists
didn't have the whole picture,pediatricians didn't have the
whole picture, the teachersdidn't have the whole picture
the tutors, the grandparents,everybody who was part of the
nuclear and extended system,right, family and team.

(19:22):
They needed to have certaininformation that was stuck in
that desk file essentially andso as I started to be able to be
the one to help them map outwhere things should be, not just
physically but emotionally andmentally, it started to make
changes and families werefighting less and um

(19:44):
accomplishing more, and I wouldwork with the kids in their
bedrooms and even sometimes withinterior designers.
Like here's a way.
Like every kid knows how toorganize their room.
They just don't want to or orthey don't know where to start
right, and so most of the timewhere our creativity gets

(20:04):
stifled is with the blank page,and so I I really think that,
ultimately, the coaching wasreally around releasing
someone's creativity.
Kids know what works for themwhen they're kids.
It's why they're good atlearning things when they're so
young.
Right there's a working memoryis fresh.
There's no fear.
There's no preconceived beliefsystems.

(20:26):
Everything is is possible.
But along the way, some teachersays you're bad at math or only
use blue pen, when you'rewriting in this notebook that
you didn't pick out for yourself, like right.
So there's all this structurethat's given to you.
Nobody really asks a kid ifit's working for them, right.
But when I was in school, mynotebooks were bright colors, my

(20:48):
notes were in doodles.
Sometimes they were spiraledall around the page.
Yeah, but I knew that by doingthat I had a visual memory.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
You were releasing.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
I would remember where on the page something was,
and no teacher, or certainly myparents, ever told me the way
that I did it was wrong.
And I think a lot of things gowrong when we tell kids that
their instinct isn't correct andthen you get afraid of like
well, if what I think isn'tright, I need somebody to tell
me.

(21:18):
And that's scary for kids.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Well, and I feel like just listening to what you just
said, it's like such an ahamoment, even for me, because in
our life, obviously we'remarried, we have three children.
It's not as easy as the oldsystem used to be, meaning like
dad worked, mom stayed home.
Our economy is not set up forthat anymore, and yet you want

(21:42):
three children and, yes, youhave three children and they're
all learning.
Especially in our life, we havethree completely different
individuals who all have uniqueneeds and unique talents, and it
is a blessing for people whocould have somebody like you in
their pocket to come and explainthat to the grandparents, who

(22:05):
are very opinionated and wasn'tdone like that back in their day
.
Why do you need all this kindof thing?

Speaker 3 (22:12):
You're missing two other important things.

Speaker 2 (22:14):
What's that?

Speaker 3 (22:15):
Social media and the cell phone.
Well, that was like a wholeother component.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
We'll get to that in a minute.
But it's just like you found aniche that truly is so necessary
in this digital noisy.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
Our world is full of noise, but at what point did the
aha moment of I'm going gonnado this school?

Speaker 4 (22:42):
so in 2008 is when the social media sites really
became a problem.
Um, we had sites that wereallowing kids to put up
anonymous, anonymous quizzes,right like um, that were really
bullying right so um, we had ayou know tumblr which was

(23:05):
starting to glorify things likeeating disorders and cutting and
you know, and school refusalreally started around that time.
Um, there was software callededline, which is how the
teachers would report grades.
Um, sometimes not all theteachers updated them at the
same pace, so a parent wouldimmediately wake up in the
morning and start yelling attheir kid why didn't you turn in
your assignment?
But maybe it was turned in, butthere were fights because the

(23:27):
parents didn't believe the kidsright or whatever it was.
There was stuff that started inaround 2008 that school refusal
was really becoming a problem.
So my phone was ringing.
Now I have these relationshipswith therapists and I was
starting to work with a lot morefamilies with therapists and I
was starting to work with a lotmore families and I was already

(23:47):
really acutely aware of howschool-related stress was
impacting the family dynamic.
So you know, I went to a housewith one of an elementary school
girl who had the FSA testingand she was so scared because
the teacher or substitute whowas proctoring test said I don't
know if you're going to getyour color transparency to use

(24:08):
on the answer sheet because I'mnew and I'm not sure if they're
going to give you youraccommodation, so then that just
shut her down.
But the regular teacher had said, if you don't pass this test,
I'm going to lose my job, waslike how she was trying to
motivate these kids.
So this little girl pitched atent on her bed and locked
herself in her bedroom andwouldn't come out for testing.
And I spent, you know, one dayon the outside of her bedroom

(24:28):
door just talking to her throughit, and then the next day she
let me in and we uncovered thatit was these two comments the
one teacher saying if you don'tdo well, I'm going to lose my
job, and the person that wasproctoring days or weeks later
saying I don't know how to getyou your accommodations.
So she, this littlenine-year-old, put together well

(24:49):
, if I don't have thisaccommodation that I need, how
am I going to do well, and I'mgoing to be the reason my
teacher gets fired.
And so she just was like I'mnot going to go take the test.
So there's stuff like that thata parent isn't.
I could say the same thing toyour three kids that you both
say, and I will get an entirelydifferent result, because they
are not my kids, and so that'sjust an unfortunate side effect,

(25:11):
I think, of being parents.
But the reality was, is thatthe parents were so anxious
about not knowing why their kidis locked in her bedroom that
they couldn't be calm andcurious enough to get her to
share what was wrong, becauseshe didn't know, she didn't even
really know that it was the twothings that prompted her to be

(25:33):
so scared.
So, you know, school relatedstresses runs really deep and
around that time I was reallyseeing kids who were like
begging not to go to school andthis was even before school
shootings were, you know, oneveryone's mind.
This was really just from theearly social media and grades
and tests.
So In 2009-10, I had a group ofcoaching clients who were

(26:02):
really struggling to get toschool.
So I started searching.
I toured about 20 or 25 privateschools in Miami-Dade, broward,
palm Beach and Martin Countiesjust trying to see what other
people were offering as a way ofreferring my clients to other
schools were offering as a wayof referring my clients to other
schools and everyone was kindof offering, saying the right

(26:28):
things.
But then I would walk in theclassroom and I had this
background in a non-traditionaleducation that I knew was the
way to handle a non-traditionalbrain and I was seeing this very
traditional environment thatdidn't quite match up.
So I figured out howhomeschooling worked and long
before COVID and pods and microschools and all of that Right.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
And I started definitely ahead of the curve.

Speaker 4 (26:47):
So fall of 2010,.
Three of my private coachingclients were the first Space of
Mind students and we actuallystarted in the Delray beach
library and then we started togrow, so they came to my house
every day.
Um, and then after january ofthat year, I moved and didn't

(27:09):
want them in my new house, so webecame nomads in delray and we
would like be in the library andwe would be in the park and we
would be all over um, and thenin april of 2011, was that like
full-time tutoring, like yeah,they came to my house.
The first two years we used orabout year and a half we used
florida virtual school.
It was the easiest, safestoption.

(27:31):
If this great experiment didn'twork, I knew the grades would
transfer to any school thatthose kids were and I like that,
and so it gave the parents, whoI still still to this day,
those first three families.
I thank them every day for thefaith and trust.
I was like, yeah, just you know,write me this, check and come
to my house and we'll just doschool.

(27:52):
And it was amazing and itworked, and so they that early.
You know, faith really set uson this course.
And then, yeah, we moved intothe Clark House in 2011, which
is Delray's oldest house 1896.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
Which, when you walk in there itself, you realize the
density of what's happeningthere, because it's such a
wonder and it's an organizedwonder which always, you know I
appreciate being a type A person.
But how did that all come intothe like?

(28:30):
All the stuff and the evolutionof designing this space.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
When you say stuff like because each room is very
unique and very well designed,thank you.
It's like design on steroidswhen you say stuff, because each
room is very unique and verywell designed.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Thank you.
It's like design on steroidssome of the rooms, but that each
little space would have itspurpose and I'm sure it evolved.

Speaker 4 (28:47):
I mean I'm sure it was a work in process.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
Oh my God.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
When we took the first building, the Clark House,
it was actually a crime scene.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
I know I remember you saying it's so crazy, it was a
pill mill.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
It's so crazy and I recently was watching one of the
documentaries on the pill milland pain industry and they
showed the clip of the arrest ofthe doctor in our parking lot
and I was cracking up.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
In that building.
Yeah, the white building.

Speaker 4 (29:09):
Oh, yeah, it was full on crime scene still when I
took it.
Oh wow, so all their stuff wasstill there, the crime scene.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
It was hilarious I knew a bunch of guys who had a
business there that didmulti-level marketing yeah, that
was before them.

Speaker 4 (29:22):
yeah, yeah, um, we got their mail too, uh.
So, yeah, when I took it over,we had to perform basically an
exorcism because the energy inthat building was just horrific,
but the bones of that buildingwere amazing and the first
resident of that building coachclark, was the first resident of
that building.
Coach Clark was apparently thefirst football coach as lore has
it for Delray High School, andso he grew up in that house and

(29:45):
the house is really just areally cool spot.
So, yeah, it had many earlyiterations.
In fact, it's our 20th year ofthe company, so we're putting
together a timeline of the earlyyears right now.
So I was cracking up the othernight pulling out those old
pictures of how many differentways each room has evolved oh my
God, it's crazy Iterations.

(30:07):
Yes, so many iterations, andthen we joke.
Like you know, it's change ofmind also, right?
So everything's flexible andmovable and the buildings change
each year, you each year, as wegrow and create.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
I read somewhere the school is kind of classified.
I'm not sure what this means.
Transformative.

Speaker 4 (30:28):
I mean, I would say, we're transformative.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
What does that mean?

Speaker 4 (30:31):
Just that look.
I mean, I think we are a placewhere the environment is safe
and nurturing for you to be yourwhole self.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
And.

Speaker 4 (30:42):
I think the biggest thing that is holding kids and
adults back right now is withsocial media, with this instant
gratification that we have.
We don't give ourselves enoughtime to develop, to percolate,
to learn, to make mistakes, totry a bunch of stuff and see
what you love.
And you know the root oflearning is that it's curiosity.

(31:06):
And you know my dad actually,before he passed he told us this
story that he always believedthat education was the highest
form of prayer.

Speaker 2 (31:18):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
I think that's like right to be in that space
mentally, where you can be inprayer with whatever, whoever
you believe in.
You have to feel comfortable inyour skin and comfortable in a
way that is, you know, is trulyprecious, and so that is set
sets the culture of our space.

(31:40):
So it doesn't matter what itlooks like, it comes from the
culture that forms it.
And then obviously, I like coolstuff and I like color and I
like things that have multiplefunctions, and so over the years
, you know the the spaces havecome together with a lot of.
You know the creative flairthat everyone brings to the

(32:00):
table, but also thinking aboutthe utilitarian needs of what we
have too.

Speaker 3 (32:08):
So what is the typical student?

Speaker 4 (32:10):
What type of students does you know it's funny, we
really don't have a typical typeof student other than to say we
love working with kids withbusy brains, I love that.
Who are, you know, and familieswho are able to be in a
nontraditional paradigm.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
Right, because education is kind of out of the
box, the way in which it'sdelivered.

Speaker 4 (32:30):
Ours is yeah so, but we have all kinds of kids.

Speaker 3 (32:36):
I feel it's like almost created for each
individual kid.
It is.

Speaker 4 (32:38):
Yeah, it is.
Yeah, it's super customized toeach student and really we have
lots of different kids.
We've got kids who see theworld in multiple different ways
and that's what makes it sounique.
So we're just a microcosm of alarger group of kids.
You take 50 kids randomly fromany large group of school with

(32:59):
4,000 kids, you'll get a littleof everyone, and that's what we
have and that's what makes it sospecial.
But the curriculum is reallywhat allows us to meet each
student where they are, and soabout the fourth year we started
writing our own curriculum forevery student.
And what does?

Speaker 2 (33:14):
that look like, Like where does that process even
come?
Yeah, come from.

Speaker 4 (33:19):
So you remember the choose your own adventure books
when we were kids.
Like, if you get to page 32?
It asks you a question like doyou want to go this way?
Turned page 50?
If you, want it to go to thisother page.
So that was.
Those are my favorite books asa kid and our curriculum.
We write a brand new curriculumevery summer for the following
year.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
And they're always creative.
Super creative really currentthemes and very curated yeah,
Every detail along the way.

Speaker 4 (33:46):
Yeah, and that's what keeps it fresh for our team.
Right.
We're all, as educators,lifelong learners, and I think
one of the places wheretraditional schools really
missed it is that we've madeclassroom teachers more like
administrators.
There's data.

Speaker 1 (34:04):
There's you know this , you have to follow this
roadmap like right you it's.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
They've removed creativity from the process, um,
and so I think it's reallyimportant for our team to feel
that they have autonomy in whatthey're teaching and that they
also have the flexibility tothrow the lesson plan out the
window if the kids get a betteridea right.
And that's what keeps everythingsuper fresh.
So we come into the curriculumseason with a grid.

(34:30):
Essentially, All the classesare designed every year to be
interdisciplinary.
So science is a different themeevery year, Humanity is a
different theme and we are ableto integrate all the character
habits into the academics.
So the social, emotional andlife skills are all part of the
academic process.

(34:51):
And then there's room for thekids.
If you think about our lessonplans, kind of like Mad Libs,
right.
The narratives where you have ablank and fill in the blank with
like whatever you want.
So that's sort of how the unitstudies are for the kids.
We give them like the here'sthe guideline and everything's
based on the state standards.
We're always kind of coveringourselves to make sure that

(35:14):
there's no doubt that we'rehitting the material that you
would get anywhere else.
We just do it in a more fun way.
But with that MATLIB approachthe kids then can be like five
kids in a learning group andthey all five will be doing a
different variation on thesubject.
And because we use theproject-based learning lifecycle

(35:36):
, by the end of that unit studyand at the end of each trimester
the kids present to each otherand then at the end of the
trimester to each other andtheir parents on what they've
learned.
And that's the best way togauge what they know, not from a
test or a quiz.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
I know, and it's such a big thing for a parent, or I
mean and I'm saying this as aparent to accept that, do you
know what I mean?
We're so conditioned to thinkall right, this is a test, this
is how many tests you need tohave, and the tests have to have
this many questions.
So then, I guess you must knowthis information.

Speaker 4 (36:13):
But as a designer you're tested when you get all
the furniture placed Right andit's all there on time and in
the right condition and theclient's happy.
You're not given a piece ofpaper by your client saying
prove to me what you know aboutdesign.
You prove it by can you get thejob done on time and do it well
, and that's project-basedlearning Right.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
Well, we have three kids.
One of us goes to Space of Mind.
A big difference for peoplelistening and watching to this
podcast is for our two kids thatgo to have been at other
schools once or twice a year wemeet with the teacher the
teacher gives us an overview ofwhat's been happening at space
of mind.
We do the same thing.

(36:54):
We come in, we meet all thecoaches yeah but you also have
our daughter stand up in frontof all the coaches and us yeah
and do a whole presentation onwhat she just learned and was
doing that semester superimportant no other school does
that.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
No, it's really priceless, which is a shame.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
I mean it's a lot so we take out a few days each
trimester to do it, but it makesso much sense.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
But as parents, to get to see and see the
excitement on their face.
Did they really learn it?
Did they understand it and whatthey were learning?
It's very unique and unusual.

Speaker 4 (37:32):
And also the presentation skills set our kids
up for success right.
We have kids that in highschool are out in the workforce.
We have kids that aregraduating, that are doing
massively amazing things in theworld really contributing in
technology and media and law andmedicine and music, like doing

(37:53):
really cool stuff.
Because they got these coreentrepreneurial skills that were
designed within the curriculum.
It's all so that they come outwith this opportunity.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
So it ends at 12th grade, but where does the
student?

Speaker 2 (38:10):
We're hoping it's going to extend a little bit so
we actually don't end in 12thgrade.

Speaker 4 (38:13):
We have a young adult workforce training program and
gap years.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Oh, I didn't know that, yep.
So we're actually launching itas a residential program now.
Which I love.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
And I've already told people about that the youngest
is kindergarten and our oldestparticipant right now is 21.
And we're adding a residentialpart of the gap year and
workforce training program, sowe'll be able to recruit from
around the country, which isgoing to be amazing.
It really is We've now got oneof our full-time staff members.

(38:45):
Has been at Space of Mind sincefirst grade, left for a few
years, went back to Pennsylvaniaand then came back and now he's
working in our kitchenfull-time.
But he worked at farmer's tableum leading up to taking this
job with us.
Um got experience out in theworld um and went through our
gap year program to to get thatopportunity and now we've hired

(39:08):
him.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
So so, now that you brought up the kitchen,
obviously the, the schoolhousekitchen, and the what do you
call it?
The learning the hub the hubyeah, was a big.
Is a big part of yourcurriculum, I mean not only
second building, yeah, thesecond building, but I always,
even with the campus like haveappreciated the curation of the
actual menu every day, and weeat well there is yeah there's

(39:32):
such a focus on food and it'sall healthy and clean, and now
you do have this amazingfacility.
Yeah, what brought that to theforefront, as I shared.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
I started in the restaurant industry right Like.
I really think everyone by lawshould have to work in a
restaurant at least one time intheir life.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
Why is that?

Speaker 4 (39:55):
Well, people let their guard down around food, so
you can learn a lot aboutpeople.
The working memory aspect youhave to work a lot of different
parts of that restaurant inorder to accomplish one thing.
The teamwork element the factthat you have to leave your
stuff at the door right Ifyou're going to get through your
shift.
You can't be worrying aboutwhat's happening at home, you've

(40:15):
got to just be present and youhave opportunities to both lead
and follow in that environmentas well.
But I learned a lot of designpieces in that job, like opening
Cheesecake Factories.
David Overton, who's the founderand CEO of Cheesecake.
He would be on site for everyopening, meticulously managing

(40:36):
every detail of the design.
And I understood and thisreally served me when I worked
with the hoarding populationthat where things go matter If
the creamers are too far fromthe coffee cups and it's a pain
to get your table coffee serversaren't going to offer coffee
service They'll lose 30 bucks ontheir check right.

(40:58):
So little things that peopledon't think about matter to the
bottom line and they matter tothe efficiency of the team.
So there were.
You know, the purposefulplacement of things can really
make a difference for theproficiency of the team working,
so I understood that as well,which was really important.

(41:19):
But for me, the restaurantindustry really set me on fire.
I loved it.

Speaker 3 (41:25):
I had a restaurant for a number of years.

Speaker 4 (41:26):
Did you?
I didn't know that.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
Yeah, six years.
And there's two other aspectsthat I've always thought like.
I think people being in arestaurant or working is a great
thing.
Is they the people skills thatyou have to have or you have to
develop?
Yeah in the process, becauseit's all about the people and
the customers coming in and themenjoying that experience back,
yeah, what's that?
And coming back correct, yeah,and the other aspect is is it

(41:51):
being on top of your game, doyou?
You got to be thinking everymoment, every second yeah you
know, are they ready, are happy?
Do they want to check?
Do they need something?
You know what's going on in thekitchen and generally you're
doing it with a hangover.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
Yeah, what's that?

Speaker 4 (42:04):
I said generally you're also doing it with a
hangover, so it was like youknow, I was in my 20s and we
would drink for two.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
We'd sleep for four and then do it again.

Speaker 4 (42:19):
That you can only do in your 20s though, but yeah.
So the restaurant world, I think, is an amazing place to grow
those skills, but also welearned in COVID that the
restaurant industry has toredevelop itself and redesign
itself and grow a healthierworkforce because of, you know,
the propensity to get involvedin, you know, drinking or drugs

(42:40):
or have mental health stuff thatcomes from, you know, working
those hours, and so there's alot of room to create a new,
inspired workforce in that area.
So in 2017, my team and Istarted the Community Classroom
Project, which is our nonprofitorganization.
It shares the campus with Spaceof Mind, and we started

(43:01):
construction shortly thereafteron the second building on the
campus, which is called the Hub,and this kitchen, this
commercial teaching kitchen, wassort of the heart of that
project, and so we've nowextended the workforce training
to digital media and music.
We've got our own recordingstudio, which will grow into a

(43:22):
record label.
We have engineering, we havefine arts, and so the community
center offers programs foradults who have, for years,
walked onto the campus and said,like I want to come here.
And families and also for thisyoung adult population which I
personally think is our next.
I mean, we have a lot ofproblems to solve in the world

(43:43):
right now, but in terms ofgetting kids out in the world,
to you know, succeed as adults.
We have a real kind of uphillbattle right now yeah um you
know, making them productive andyeah, well, just individuating
right like this is the COVIDgeneration.
They they developed differentanxieties and attachments to

(44:04):
home and and parents theirattachments to their kids in the
wake of school shootings andthings that could literally kill
your kids when they leave thehouse.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
So is that a conversation that comes like
there was just one?
What yesterday or the daybefore?
Yesterday it seems like everyweek there's one.
Is that a conversation thatgoes on?
It sometimes is Do you have apreparedness program that you
have to deal with.

Speaker 4 (44:27):
So we have.
After the Douglas shooting, wehad kids come to Tour Space of
Mind and they would ask how dothe doors lock?
What do you do?
Do you sound the alarm?
Do you do drills Because we hadso many kids with trauma from
just the drills right, and Iunderstand liability-wise and

(44:50):
all of the rest that you want toprepare kids, but there were
kids being traumatized in thepreparation right.
Interestingly enough, it waskids who had asked those
questions kind of first, beforetheir parents would maybe even
get there, because the parentsare looking at solving the other
problem first, which is likeschool isn't working.
What is this place going to dofor us?
But the kids are very acutelyaware of what has traumatized

(45:14):
them, and so we've had kids walkthrough on the tour and just
start to cry and I'm like, whyare you crying?
And I never knew someplace likethis existed.
I never would have thought,right, that school could be this
way.
And so, yeah, I mean schoolshootings are real.
The access you mentioned beforethat kids have to technology is

(45:35):
terrifying.
It is actively traumatizingkids throughout the day too,
because they are holding themback in some ways.
It's definitely holding back.
So there's a lot of things nowthat are kind of at the
forefront of how education isreinventing itself.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
So where do you see the growth of space of mine?
Like, what's your vision for?
Do you see like franchising?
So we are set up for that.

Speaker 4 (46:06):
The two years before COVID, I worked with a franchise
attorney.
We're ready to go the summer of2020, I talked to a large
number of people that reachedout to us when we were promoting
the opportunity and I realizedit wasn't the right time for me
or them.
You can't start a business whenyou're running scared which

(46:26):
certainly in COVID most peoplewere and this is not the kind of
business that you start if youhave variables that, could you
know, like that aren't settledright.
I mean, I started space of mine, I'm single, I don't have kids,
like it was, like me and my dog.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
Like I could put everything to it.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
Yeah, but when you're dealing with kids.

Speaker 2 (46:47):
As you know, it's like serious business, um, and
parents are actually sometimesharder than the kids, so it's a
lot of people that are countingon you Well, and I feel like
this type of education really isthe future, because so many
kids don't fit in a box anymoreand obviously there's more

(47:09):
autism and there's, like yousaid, more anxiety around school
.
And more competition, I wouldsee something like this being
needed in every small town in abig city.

Speaker 4 (47:21):
There's this big movement now towards
homeschooling, which, of course,I thought I would be like
standing from the rooftops andscreaming it in 2020.
And it's exciting that we havea more nontraditional ecosystem.
I guess that's coming togetherfor learning.
There are a lot of things thatI joked to someone last night.

(47:43):
I'm like.
I kind of sometimes feel,though, like Oppenheimer when he
said he sort of regrettedinventing the bomb, because in
some ways I think we're going tolose a lot of kids while this
new figure system figures it outbecause parents aren't really
the best ones to teach theirkids.
For the same reason I said Icould tell your kid one thing.

(48:04):
I agree and get a whole samething, I agree and it puts a
different dynamic into thefamily it's not the natural
dynamic and I know a lot ofhomeschool parents will scream
at me for saying that, but it'sdefinitely, I think, making it
harder in a lot of respects forthe non-traditional learners to
get what they need, becauseparents are not.

(48:25):
They're teaching from the waythey were taught.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
Right.

Speaker 4 (48:28):
And not necessarily for the way their kids need to
learn.
Curriculum that is out in themarket is not tailored to every
student.
We offer our curriculum forhomeschoolers the same way that
we write it for our full-timekids, so that it can be tailored
to the learner, and that's sortof where I see our growth now

(48:49):
is offering that curriculum outinto the homeschool world so
that it can tie things together.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
Not everybody is going to do a full-time program,
but I think that is a huge linkbecause when I was researching
we were researching forKensington the homeschool aspect
came up all the time and I haveto say everybody spoke so
amazing.
All these kids that I have metthat were coming from a
homeschool background wereexceptional children who

(49:18):
eventually resurfaced intomainstream life very well.
But I feel like it is adisconnect that, again, not
everybody learns the same.
And then there are so many ofthese kids with learning.
I mean I hate to even use theword challenges, it's just they
learn different.
We all have challenges, yeah.
And look, make no mistake, Imean I hate to even use the word
challenges.
It's just they learn different.
Everyone just is different.
We all have challenges, yeah.

Speaker 4 (49:38):
And look, make no mistake.
I think homeschool kids are, byand large, more successful than
, oftentimes, traditionallyschooled kids, because they're
taught to make choices duringthe day, they're given more
autonomy, they're given theopportunity to be out in the
community more right.
We learn how to communicate bytalking to people of all

(49:59):
different ages and types, andthat's where the freedom of
homeschooling really is sovaluable that you know if you
think about, like theRenaissance right, like we
learned from, you know,apprenticeships and we had, you
know, mentorship and and youknow the, that's really what
we're coming to right now ineducation, but there still needs

(50:21):
to be, um, I think, somestructure and some
standardization of what you knowthat looks like that looks like
, and and so right now, at thismoment in the homeschool
movement, there's sort of apushback on that Like don't tell
me what my kid needs to know.
Right, like I got this, but it'shard, it's exhausting.

(50:44):
Being a homeschool parentwithout a roadmap is very
stressful that you've gainedover literally living it working
it doing it

Speaker 2 (50:56):
and that you get to imprint to these coaches and to
the staff is kind of a hybrid ofhomeschool and curriculum.

Speaker 4 (51:05):
It totally is.
It's just they're coming to us.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
How are you attracting new students?

Speaker 4 (51:11):
Do you have?

Speaker 3 (51:11):
an ad program out there on social media.
We've got social media.

Speaker 4 (51:15):
We've got word of mouth.
We have a really good sort ofnetwork of referrers that know
about us.
We purposely stayed off theradar for a number of years
because you know, in the earlyyears especially, nobody was
doing what I was doing.
And are you a school, are younot a school?
There were zoning questionsthat we had to deal with.

(51:41):
So you know, I'm of the do first, apologize later mentality.
So we didn't even have a signout front for a hot minute, like
we were just very quiet untilwe had, you know, our footing
and I understood the businessmodel and I understood, like,
who we really were.
Right, we're essentially atutoring center for
homeschoolers.
Right, they come to us fulltime during the day, but like
most micro schools and pods, youknow, the parents are the ones,

(52:03):
like you've signed the noticeof intent as homeschool parents.
But we do the heavy lifting tomake sure that you're not
dealing with the stress of that,that you can still be the
parent and not the primaryeducator.
But also, you come and you seeand we share with you what the
curriculum is like.
We're very transparent andwe're very flexible.
So you know, we have kids thathave different interests.

(52:26):
Like we had a student a bunchof years ago who didn't want to
learn about the human biology,but she really wanted to
understand this one randomspecies of beetle.
So I found a I forget whatyou're called if you're studying
bugs a professor who taughtabout this beetle and we wrote a
class right, so we can getreally customized with what

(52:50):
we're doing and I think that ishelpful.
We can also supplement adifferent homeschool education
or supplement curriculum.
It doesn't have to all be fromus right, but it's about having
the connection with the studentand the family to make sure that
what we're giving the studentto learn is what they care about
.

Speaker 3 (53:10):
So the school is called Space of Mind.

Speaker 4 (53:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
How did you come up with the name?
What does the name mean?

Speaker 4 (53:16):
So I Because it's not your typical You're going to
like this.
It's not your typical.
You get to use it.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
I love how you have the initials, because we tell
people, you know people ask, hey, where's?

Speaker 3 (53:24):
you know, kids go to school and we'll say Space of
Mind.
What's Space of?

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Mind.

Speaker 4 (53:43):
So in the early years when I was working with
families and doing a lot morelike around the actual physical
space, how things were organizedin the home, I got hired by a
family in Jacksonville and Iwent up and like kind of moved
in with them.
I lived there in their guestroom for a week and we went
space to space and we just redidthe house in a way that matched
everyone's learning style andlifestyle and communication
style and stuff, everyone'slearning style and lifestyle and
communication style and stuff.
And on the way home I realizedthat I no longer was tied to
this sort of consignment andcloset organizing and sort of

(54:06):
that niche.
It was really about the largerframe of mind that was coming.
So I was on the drive home andframe of mind popped into my
head and somehow by the time Imade it from you know the middle
of the state back to southflorida.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
It was space of mind, so and it's got so many like I
love how the initials are som,and I mean you guys play on all
of that all the time yeah, Ihave a whole list of words that
we have that in there but yeah,yeah interesting well, it's
really a special place, andwe're so grateful that it

(54:43):
happens to be in our town, thatour daughter gets to benefit
from this special place thatyou've put your lifestyle and
life into creating, but we're so.

Speaker 4 (54:53):
I mean, I'm so blessed that you've shared Ken's
with us and that every familytakes a chance to do something a
little different.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
And I pray that they do and we try to spread the word
as often as we can.
So what's the future.

Speaker 3 (55:07):
Do you have plans in the future?
What's new that you're going tobring?

Speaker 4 (55:11):
I want to get our curriculum out there.
We want to grow thisresidential program and the
workforce program.
I'm really working hard onCommunity Classroom Project
right now.

Speaker 3 (55:21):
Community Classroom Project.

Speaker 4 (55:23):
Yeah, that's the nonprofit.
And then I'd like to teach, I'dlike to write, I'd like to
share what I've learned and it's20 years since I started this,
which is crazy, and we've seen alot of things, and I've learned
a lot of things as anentrepreneur, as a human, as a

(55:44):
leader, as you know, an educatorthat I think are important to
share, because the perspectivethat I've had being in someone's
home, being in a classroomworking with a kid who's really
struggling, and then, all of asudden, you're there when the
light bulb goes off, and youknow.

(56:06):
so I really want to be able toshare what we've learned, as you
know myself and as a team.
And I understand you have anendeavor to try to buy, yes, one
of the buildings yes, so wehave two, these two amazing
buildings on our special placesone, uh, the white building, um,
the clark house is, you know,uh will be space of minds, and

(56:28):
then the gray building behind itwhich is the hub.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
Um, we are raising money through community
classroom project to buy it, andI have until june 30th so um,
and it's a creative communitycenter for everyone right, so
looking for anyone who'sinterested in anyone helping
further the education ofchildren's in a variant unique
program yeah, and to make this ashow place for delray.

Speaker 4 (56:52):
Right, right, it really is special Adding family
retreats.
Come from anywhere, stay in ourhotels and participate in our
programming and eat at ourrestaurants and we'll curate
these family vacations.
That's next, all of thosethings, but I need to make sure
we've got this place on lock.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
Right.

Speaker 4 (57:11):
I've put a lot into it.
You sure have, so I'm prettysure this is all going to work
out.

Speaker 3 (57:15):
I am too, and you know I've put a lot into it, so
I'm pretty sure this is allgoing to work out.
But besides the education andrunning the school, in space of
mine you also have all thesecommunity programs for the
community to come and getinvolved and have fun Like you
do every year.
A big Halloween event.
It's like the city of DelrayHalloween event.

Speaker 4 (57:31):
Yes, we actually doubled the size of it this year
.
It was amazing.
And the kids put those thingson.
They're learning how to do reallife things.
They're learning how to designan event, build it, produce it
and then debrief on it.
How can you make it better?
Um, and so the first trimesterof each academic year, they're
designing that halloween hauntedhouse and the event, which is

(57:53):
really fun.
what other school gives you, youknow, six weeks to build a
haunted house and the event,which is really fun?
What other school gives you sixweeks to build a haunted house?
No, but also builds all thecurriculum into it right.
Correct the haunted house themealways follows our curriculum
theme.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
It really is Right.
But then you're also what's the?
What happens on Saturdays?

Speaker 2 (58:10):
Hub at the Hub oh the community classes oh the garden
.

Speaker 4 (58:13):
I mean the green market, Green market so the city
of Delray has the green market.
Is it just Sundays?
It's Saturdays, it's Saturdays.

Speaker 3 (58:21):
But Space of Mind has a setup there where the kids
are running the business selling.

Speaker 4 (58:28):
It's called Mason Jar Munchies the product line, and
yeah, so they have.
Every Saturday they're at thebooth and it's run by the kids.

Speaker 2 (58:36):
And it's delicious.
It's really great, it really is.

Speaker 4 (58:38):
Yeah, we're launching with the kitchen project.
This year we're launching aghost kitchen that will be run
by the students, so takeoutdinners Wednesday through
Saturday.
We've got the meal box projectthat's relaunching this year
through the kitchen, which is,you know, kind of like a blue
apron meal box.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
That's so cool.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
You buy one and we donate one to another family in
need.

Speaker 4 (58:59):
Yeah, we did it during COVID and we actually had
sold about I don't know I thinklike three or four thousand
meal boxes during COVID, and sothat was really cool.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
And people just come and pick them up.

Speaker 4 (59:16):
Uh, we would distribute them at the green
market or have some of ourstudents who drive, would you
know?
Earn some money delivering oryou could pick them up.
Yeah, that's fabulous.

Speaker 2 (59:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (59:24):
So all of you know there's, the kids are also
learning all the entrepreneurialskills and it's working Like.
One of our students graduatedlast year he to um art school,
uh, this year and at college hegot there and realized that none
of the bike shops in milwaukeefixed the electric scooters, so
he had worked at rich wagonsbike shop here for years um, and

(59:48):
he started a business on campusfixing scooters and you know I
was doing quite well.
But he called me like a weekinto running the business and
he's like, yeah, I meaneverything I learned about
networking, about.
He sent me his spreadsheet likewhere he's tracking all the
sales and you know he's he gotthat through our program and
through the access he had to thelocal businesses who partner

(01:00:12):
with us right, which is alsoanother.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
We could have a whole podcast, just on that I love
all of that.
Yeah, well, it was reallyspecial to have you here today.
And as we wrap up, we have likea fun little.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
One or two questions.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
One or two design questions.
I have nothing to do withanything that we talked about.
Okay, cool.

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
I have to do with design, so I'll ask the first
one Okay.
So is there a restaurant thatcomes to your mind that you
would say wow, that is like thebest designed restaurant.

Speaker 4 (01:00:39):
Okay, so my new favorite is Amar in.

Speaker 2 (01:00:43):
Delray oh, the new one.
We haven't been there yet, Okaywait till.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
You see how beautiful .
Nicholas and his team made thisrestaurant.

Speaker 3 (01:00:49):
Where is Amar?
What is that?
It took over the old Mellow.
Mushroom.
Oh, okay yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:00:54):
Yeah, and it's just, it's stunning.
So that's my quick, easy answer.
I like that, though I'm goingto give Amar the shot.
I love that I give him a plug.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
Yeah, and then I think this is kind of a great
question for you, just becauseanybody who could go and see
Space of Mine, you should checkit out online.

Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
It's just eye candy and it's so design, noteworthy,
on every what is your, everyaspect, every aspect, yes, what
is your favorite like designaccessory, like in a home, oh,
books.

Speaker 4 (01:01:28):
Yeah, I use books for everything.
Um, I love using books inrandom ways.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Like on the wall, like you two, you should see it.
They're so fabulous.
Yeah, I think books.

Speaker 4 (01:01:43):
They tell your story, yeah, I love books too.

Speaker 3 (01:01:46):
You know what we keep saying about space of mind and
design on steroids is when youwalk through and you see
everything.
I think we should just kind oflike say that like you have a
music room.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
All my kids talk about.

Speaker 3 (01:01:57):
It's a small little teeny room, but it's like you
shoved and put everything fromthe guitar center into that room
yeah, you got every instrumenton the ceiling.
Oh, it's got everything, butjust just the walls and how you
know what's on the walls and thedesign and so forth.
And then there's another room.
I'm not really sure what theroom is, but I'm going to guess

(01:02:19):
it's kind of like the scienceroom.
But you've got, I mean, youmust have a dozen different
types of creatures.

Speaker 4 (01:02:30):
All the little bugs.
We have a little bit of a zoo.

Speaker 3 (01:02:35):
It's like a mini zoo.
So for kids we're getting somenew zoo animals?

Speaker 4 (01:02:39):
I think yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
But for a kid, you know, in a room where they're
talking about biology andscience, what an environment to
be in.

Speaker 4 (01:02:47):
My favorite part of that science room is the copper
floor.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
Yeah, the copper floor is mine too.

Speaker 4 (01:02:50):
That's the best part Mine too, mine too we got so
lucky with that.
It was this horrible vinyl tileand when we picked it up it was
this magical copper floor andwe just sealed it and it's
amazing, it is so cool, but it'slike you talked about the
copper floor.
The ceilings are every ceilingis very unique and the walls are
you're walking to each room andyou have to spend.

(01:03:12):
It was fun seeing it come off myiPad and, like, room by room,
come to life.
That was really fun and I stillam always looking for fun stuff
to add to it.
Like we're throwing this huge80s party on Saturday, so like I
hope you guys will be there andyou'll see like it's going to
be transformed and I found somecool stuff that I'll live on in

(01:03:34):
the space for sure, so fun.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
Well, we wish you a continued success with the
school.
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:03:40):
And with this podcast , this has been fun, thank you.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Thank you and it was great to have Allie here on the
iDesign Lab iDesign Lab'spodcast is an SW Group
production in association withthe Five Star and TW Interiors.
To learn more about I DesignLab or TW Interiors, please
visit twinteriorscom.