In this episode of the College and Career Ready podcast, Sonia interviews Amelia Sofjan, a passionate educator and recent founder of Masterpiece an Acton Academy.
Amelia shares her inspiring journey from immigrating to the U.S. at age 11, discovering her passion for teaching and chemistry, to pursuing a dream career in pharmacy education.
She discusses her innovative approach to teaching, emphasizing the importance of character development, freedom, and responsibility in learning. Amelia reveals how her experience with Acton Academy inspired her to apply this approach with her adult learners, a class of pharmacy students, and saw much success within that timeframe.
That led her to create an unconventional private school that focuses on real-world skills over standardized tests. The conversation also explores the significance of failure, growth mindset, and the role of parents in shaping their children's education. Tune in to learn how Amelia is challenging the status quo in education and preparing the next generation for meaningful careers.
00:00 Introduction and Greetings
00:20 Guest Background and Journey
03:06 Innovative Teaching Methods
04:36 Implementing Acton Methods
14:22 Growth Mindset and Real-World Skills
26:28 Parental Guidance and Education
29:33 Conclusion and School Information
Connect with Amelia Sofjan:
https://www.instagram.com/masterpieceacton/
https://www.facebook.com/masterpieceacton
To learn about Masterpiece:
https://www.masterpieceacademy.org/
DiscoverU Career and Leadership Empowerment is designed for women and moms just like you—navigating the challenges of career, family, and personal growth. Whether you’re re-entering the workforce, craving more purpose in your career, stepping into leadership, or simply ready to reclaim your time and energy, DiscoverU provides the tools, coaching, and support to help you rise with confidence. Visit www.CollegeCareerReady.org
Connect with Sonia Cacique
LinkedIn
Instagram
Join our College and Career Connections Club for free at www.CollegeCareerReady.org/join
Learn about our Career Connections Course: www.CollegeCareerReady.org/COURSE
"Stay well, be present, and enjoy the journey"
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amelia (00:00):
growth mindset is believing that your abilities
are not fixed and that it cangrow over time.
I'm a big proponent of growthmindset because if a learner has
a growth mindset, They're reallyequipped to overcome so many
challenges that they will see asan adult, versus if they have a
fixed mindset this mindset thatmy abilities are fixed, I'm just
(00:22):
not good at math, or I'm justnot good at communicating right
versus, I'm not good at mathyet, This is Amelia Sofia, and
you're listening to the collegeand career ready podcast.
(01:05):
Amelia Sofian discusses herjourney from clinical assistant
professor at University ofHouston College of Pharmacy to
educating students in her newschool, Masterpiece and Acton
Academy, a school focusing oncharacter development and real
world skills.
I am so excited Amelia and Iconnected because there should
(01:28):
be more of us advocating forstudents to be seen as an
individual and not just as agrade, as a pass or fail, or as
a numeric digit within a system.
I'm so excited to share thisconversation with you today.
So without further ado, let'sget started.
Sonia (01:45):
Hi, Amelia.
How are you doing today?
I'm good.
Sonia.
How are you?
I'm good.
Thank you for being a guest ofthe college and career ready
podcast.
I'm super excited to have youhere today.
Amelia (01:56):
Thank you.
I'm really excited to be here.
It's an honor.
I love what you're doing.
And so thank you for theopportunity.
Sonia (02:03):
let's dive right in.
Why don't you give our audiencea quick bio of yourself, who you
are and, what made us connect?
Amelia (02:12):
Absolutely.
Sure.
So I am first and foremost, awife and a mom of two young
boys.
I live here in Paralim.
Um, I immigrated with my familyfrom Indonesia to Houston when I
was 11 years old.
And growing up, um, teaching hasalways been my passion.
So my mom told me that when Iwas five or six years old, when
(02:34):
I did pretend play with myfriends, I would pretend to be
the teacher.
And I would make my friends bemy students.
So my poor friends, but thatlove for teaching really
followed me throughout.
Um, so, you know, I served as atutor in high school and
college.
And along the way, I discoveredtwo more passions, which were my
love for chemistry and forconnecting with people.
(02:57):
And so because of that, Idecided to pursue a career in
pharmacy.
So I thought it would be a niceblend of my three passions.
And my dream was that when Ifinished pharmacy school, I
would work at a college ofpharmacy where I get to teach
students and also be apharmacist.
Right.
Um, and I was very fortunatethat that actually happened.
(03:18):
I was offered my dream job 10years ago.
Um, and I was invited to join asan infection.
just disease as a clinicalassistant professor at the
Houston College of Pharmacy.
And this really has been mydream job, uh, for the past 10
years, because I get to teachstudents.
I also get to practice as apharmacist and serve patients.
(03:39):
Right.
And I thought I would retirehere.
But the Lord had something elsein mind.
Um, so I actually just resignedfrom that position, uh, last
month, um, to open an innovativeprivate school called
Masterpiece and Acton Academyfor my children and families in
our Paralim community.
(04:01):
Oh my goodness.
Sonia (04:02):
I love, I love your story.
Um, because You know, you arethe prime example of what's
happening today in the job andin the career field is that
people are following theirpassions in the season of life
that they're in.
So there was a season for whereyou were at.
You maximize that opportunity.
(04:22):
You loved it.
You enjoyed it.
It's not like you're saying, Ohmy gosh, I was, you know, a
professor for 10 years and Ihated my job.
No, you were passionate and youloved it.
But in this season of your life,you are going back to some of
those innate skills that you hadfrom the very beginning of
continuing to be in education.
But now you're, you'rechallenging in, you're
(04:45):
challenging the status quo ineducation.
And, we had a great conversationabout that.
So tell our audience what thisinnovative way of teaching our
next generation is all about.
Amelia (04:59):
Absolutely.
Yes.
So I'll kind of Give a 10, 000foot view of what Masterpiece
Enactment Academy is all about,and then how I took this leap of
faith.
Does that sound good?
Yeah, sounds perfect.
Okay.
So masterpiece and actingAcademy.
What we're about is we are aboutemphasizing character
development and real worldskills over passing tests.
(05:21):
And we trust children withfreedom and responsibility for
their own learning.
So imagine a school where yourchildren are free to learn at
their own pace.
to move in the classroom and toquestion a place where we
instill character traits likegrit, empathy, and kindness, uh,
(05:41):
and a place where they get todevelop skills that will help
them thrive in the real world,like communication, critical
thinking skills, and takingresponsibility for their own
learning journey, right?
And ultimately, our mission isto help them discover who they
are.
So they can find their callingand go change the world.
So that's what our school is allabout.
(06:03):
Now, how did I take this leap offaith?
So as I was sharing with you,uh, Sonia, when we first met,
um, teaching, because it hasbeen my number one passion, I
was Always looking forinnovative ways to better engage
my learners in the classroombecause I noticed there was
increased level of disengagementover time.
Well, one day I just stumbledupon Acton Academy, this really
(06:24):
unconventional school thatstarted out in 2009.
But now has grown into a networkof 300 private schools across 23
countries.
Yeah, so I was feeling reallycurious and I decided to dive
into this book called Courage toGrow, which is essentially a day
in the life of Acton Academy.
And the funny thing is the booksaid that if you decide to read
(06:46):
it, warning, you might end upwanting to open your own Acton
Academy.
Well, guess what?
That's exactly what happened tome.
Right.
But of course, I wasn't ready tomake such a life changing
decision after reading a book.
So what I did was I actuallyexperimented with Acton methods
in my own college classroom.
(07:07):
So I basically created a brandnew course where there were no
lectures, no tests, There werestill plenty of assessments, but
they were skills based and Itrusted my learners to peer
grade and peer evaluate eachother.
So trusting the more with morepower in their learning journey,
right?
And this was probably only 10percent of active methods, but
(07:29):
that 10 percent just sparked atransformation, like the depth
of learning and the love forlearning that I witnessed just
exceeded all of my expectationsas a teacher.
And one learner wrote a commentAnd on my course evaluation that
I'll never forget, he basicallywrote, I could have gotten a C
in the course and not caredbecause I truly enjoyed the
(07:51):
challenges in this course.
I wanted to meet the courseobjectives and just learn as
much as possible.
And for me, Sonia, that was thedream.
That was my dream as a teacher.
Sure.
Right.
Where learners just focus on thejoy of learning and not worry
about the grades.
And so I realized that I didn'twant this kind of education just
for my learners.
(08:11):
I wanted it for my own children.
And so after praying about itfor many, many months and, you
know, battling my own innermonsters, there were plenty of
those.
Um, I finally took a leap offaith.
To leave that decade long careerand to start a new journey.
Sonia (08:27):
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
I need a moment here to processthis because this is everything
I'm passionate and I speakabout.
And here you have real worldexperience with adult learners
that you have tested thesestrategies and you have seen the
effect.
(08:47):
Why?
Because you're diving into theirpersonal why they're their
personal skills, abilities andinterests.
So you're, you're creating thatengagement first and foremost,
and then you are allowing themto discover at their own pace
and get that motivation.
And I think this is somethingthat we're going to see in the
generations to come.
(09:07):
Mark my words.
Um, they are looking for careerswhere they are passionate about,
they're engaged and and wetalked about this.
Um, when we met in person, Itake the word passionate loosely
because in the high school yearsor before it's, it's exploration
years, years for them todiscover interest, explore
(09:29):
opportunities.
Now, passions can suddenly be.
Um, and I think that's somethingthat we discovered and
identified definitely in, youknow, middle school and high
school, maybe in college, butyou've got to expose students to
the opportunities out there.
And I love the fact that youtalk so much about character
development.
(09:51):
I mean, now you're not justhaving a student in the
classroom, you're having a realhuman being who you're
connecting with.
And I think that was beautiful.
I think that was a big piece ofyour success is really diving
into the real world experienceswith them through this, this new
platform.
What did your students thinkwhen they came into the
classroom when they heard thatthis is, this is going to be a
(10:13):
new, a new system of learning?
Yeah,
Amelia (10:17):
honestly, I don't think they knew what to expect because
there was no other course likethis in the college.
And so I took the first two daysjust to kind of orient them to
what is this class about?
Why did I make it this way?
Right?
And I really wanted them tofocus on the why.
Why are you guys here?
(10:37):
What do you want to get out ofthis?
Right?
And then why did I structure itthis way?
It's for your own learningbenefit.
And let me show you why.
Right?
So I think the hook.
During that first two classroomsessions were so important
because now they're rooted inthe fact that she cares about my
learning journey.
She cares about my success.
And so I'm going to be investedin this.
(10:58):
So I think setting the stagesetting the expectations and
letting them know that you careabout their development and
you're there for their success.
Really set up the entire course.
Sonia (11:12):
Wow.
Did you, did you encounter anyhesitation from faculty?
Um, you know, administrators,those who basically give you the
green lights, to implement thisin the classroom.
Amelia (11:23):
Great question.
So because this course was anelective, I did not experience
too many pushback, uh, becauseit was that I'm a required
course, right?
So I had a lot more freedom toexperiment.
And that's actually why Idecided to implement in an
elective course so that I hadmore freedom to experiment.
Um, because it was so new, youknow, I think people were just
(11:46):
kind of watching me in the backto see how it went.
And then after the first year ortwo, I got to share my success
story with my faculty.
So now they're More interestedin learning about peer to peer
assessment, giving students morepower in the classroom.
So I think it's opening up doorsfor possibilities.
Sonia (12:06):
That's beautiful.
I love how you are completelychallenging the status quo.
I know a lot of parents arethinking, Well, what if I give
them too much freedom in theirlearning?
Have you encountered Thatconcern.
Amelia (12:21):
I have.
I have encountered that concernwith prospective parents for my
current school, right?
And so I think my typicalresponse would be when it comes
to when it comes to education.
We want to begin with the end inmind, right?
And the end in mind is ourChildren are going to be adults
(12:41):
who are free, right?
They have complete freedom overtheir lives, and their lives is
going to be about the choicesthat they make.
So while they're still with us,what I am a big proponent of is
to give freedom within limits,right?
Our children need limits.
And when we set that limits asadults, they're likely going to
(13:03):
create their own limits.
But it's so important to givethem choices and freedom because
then they learn to make goodchoices and bad choices and
experience natural consequencesof those choices.
So then when they're no longerwith us.
They can make wiser and betterchoices.
That
Sonia (13:23):
is so beautifully said, because one of the things I
advocate for, and which is why Icreated this podcast is because
of the gap that we have betweenthe transition from high school
to college and college tocareers, and this is.
Solves that problem.
The problem we're having rightnow is that we're going from a
system in high school whereeverything is programmed,
(13:44):
everything's organized andstructured, and our students
don't have to think they don'thave to, you know, create time
management skills.
And then they go from there tocollege where it's complete
freedom.
And guess what?
32 percent of our undergraduatestudents do not complete their
degree.
32 percent because nobodytransitioned that.
(14:04):
So this is so beautifully saidthat within limits we can
provide those those segments offreedom for students to
basically take charge of theirown learning.
Amelia (14:16):
Exactly.
Exactly.
And like you said, when they arestill, um, you know, in our
home, it's still They typicallyare not as high, right?
And so I will share a story withyou.
Um, um, that I had while I wasserving at U of H.
So I had a learner whocompletely missed an exam by
five hours because he oversleptand he ended up having to take a
(14:39):
zero on that exam.
And then he ultimately failedthe course and had to be held
back a year.
So in this case, um, and heexplained to me that he did that
because he studied all night.
He pulled up.
All nighter, and then he wasjust too exhausted and did not
hear his alarm.
Right.
So this was an instance where alearner made a poor choice, and
(15:01):
the stakes were very, very high.
Right.
And so what I want to encourageparents to do and reminding
myself to do is that whensomething like this happens to
our children, let's say theydon't wake up for school, and
they're going to miss a quiz.
Because of that, I wouldencourage parents to let them
take that zero in that quiz whenthey're in high school when the
(15:24):
stakes are lower because theywill learn from that.
And what I experienced as aprofessor probably won't happen
again, if that makes sense.
Sonia (15:33):
Yes, that makes complete total sense and that's where you
mentioned the naturalconsequences instead of saying
you are grounded for a wholeweek and you don't get to see
your friends or I'm going totake away your phone.
They're receiving the naturalconsequence.
I love that growth mindsetexplain to our audience with a
(15:56):
growth mindset is
Amelia (15:58):
sure.
So I think very simply a growthmindset is believing that your
abilities are not fixed and thatit can grow over time.
So this believe that, uh, thebelieve in neuroplasticity,
right, that our brain developsand grow over time.
Uh, and I'm a big proponent ofgrowth mindset because I think
if a learner has a growthmindset, they are.
(16:21):
They're really equipped toovercome so many challenges that
they will see as an adult,versus if they have a fixed
mindset this mindset that myabilities are fixed, like, I'm
just not good at math, or I'mjust not good at communicating
right versus, you know, I'm notgood at math yet, but I can be.
If I practice, right?
(16:42):
Yes.
Sonia (16:43):
I love that.
I love that.
I always add, I love that yousaid yet, because I always, the
students that I coach, when theysay, Oh, I can't.
And I always say yet.
So I want to remind them exactlywhat you're saying, that there
is a growth mindset.
Um, my daughter for so manyyears, She was like, I don't
like math.
I'm not good at math.
I'm not good at math.
We heard that, you know, for acouple of years.
(17:05):
And then suddenly she had agreat, amazing, um, teacher that
instilled the love.
Of math to the point where Shebecame skilled at math that then
she was saying, Oh, I love math.
I'm so good at math.
And again, it was that oneopportunity that a teacher came
(17:25):
in to really change her mindseton how to see math.
And it really has helped her tonow, you know, saying that she
loves math.
Amelia (17:34):
I love it.
I love it.
Yeah.
Sometimes we just have to followthe child and
Sonia (17:37):
wait for that time.
Yeah, absolutely.
So tell me how some of theseskills that you're teaching and
that we're advocating for thecharacter development, the
growth mindset, um, the freedom,um, of, or in responsibility of
their own learning.
How is this going to apply inthe career in the real world?
(17:59):
Within their careers.
Amelia (18:01):
Absolutely.
Right.
So freedom and responsibility.
So when they go out, um, andthey find a career and they have
a real job, right?
More than likely their bosses,most bosses are not going to
micromanage, right?
They're going to give them setresponsibilities and plenty of
freedom on how to manage thosetasks.
(18:23):
So if you give them those, um,exposure now, they'll be set up
for success when they have to doit as an adult, having a real
job, right?
Um, growth mindset.
I would say a lot of people haveto learn new skills on the job.
Right.
We come to a job.
Yes.
Having our degree.
(18:44):
We know a lot of things, butthere's so many things you have
to learn on the job that youjust don't know at the
beginning.
And if you have a growthmindset, you will see those
opportunities as challenges thatyou can overcome that.
Yes, I can learn new things.
I know how to learn.
Right.
But if they don't have that,then that is going to be such a,
such a challenging task.
(19:04):
And it may be a hindrance from,for them, um, to go forward in
their calling or in theircareers.
and then things like, mindset isto redefine what failure is.
So I have a professor who saidthat fail stands for first
attempt in learning.
(19:25):
And I love, yes, because I havejust met so many learners who
are just so afraid of failureand don't know how to cope with
failure, right?
But we're gonna encounterfailures, um, when you are a
student in college or whenyou're in your jobs, it's just a
part of life, right?
But if we can embrace failure asa part of learning, and as
(19:47):
necessary, it's really going tohelp you wherever you go,
whatever journey.
You take
Sonia (19:54):
that is so perfectly said, especially because and I
have experienced this myself,you know, with the students I
interact with and, and, youknow, As active as I am in the
community with the youth.
Yeah.
Sometimes it's not that theparents are creating this
pressure.
Sometimes it is, but some, butfor the most part, it's the
(20:16):
pressure they put on themselves,whether it's society, whether
it's.
whether it's education, Ifactors.
But they, they are much pressurethat they'r because they're so
afraid I'll give you a perfect eChildren see our youth se media
(20:38):
and social media ha I will neversay that we need to get rid of
it completely, but they go tosocial media and they see the
best of best of everything,right?
They don't see the process.
They don't see the journey.
They don't see that it took somany failures.
So they don't know that to getthat one.
Yes.
They had to first get nine no's.
And so it's so important for usas community members, as
(21:02):
parents, as educators, to reallyhelp them understand that we
actually want them to fail andfail fast.
Because the quicker they fill,the quicker they will learn and
the quicker they will grow.
Amelia (21:14):
Exactly.
I could not agree more.
And, you know, I think asparents, as both you and I are
moms, I think, you know, what wecan do as parents Parents is to
share our moments of failurewith our Children, because this
is something that I do with mylearners, um, to just create a
more vulnerable setting.
(21:35):
But because sometimes learnersput teachers in this pedestal.
That teachers know everything.
Teachers don't make mistakes.
But as soon as I share, you knowwhat, I have failed miserably.
Let me tell you about myfailures and what I learned from
it.
Right.
And I think when our childrenhear that from their parents,
then failures become moreacceptable and are not something
(21:58):
to be fearful of.
Sonia (22:01):
Yes.
And that reminds me, youmentioned something earlier
about imposter syndrome.
We didn't mention the word atthe time, but, you know, you
gave examples of how, studentsstart questioning their ability
and, or when you're out in theworkforce, you finish your
education and students, if youhave student listeners, I'm
going to tell you the.
The real honest truth.
You will graduate with yourdegree because we all did as
professionals.
(22:21):
And then you will get into, youwill transition into your
career.
And guess what?
You're not going to know all theanswers.
And you're going to feel likeyou're an imposter.
Like who am I to be in thiscareer in this role with this
degree?
And I don't know all theanswers.
Well, you won't know theanswers.
Right off the bat, but there isa learning curve that has to
happen in order for you tocontinue to grow.
(22:44):
That's where the growth mindsetcomes into play.
Amelia (22:47):
Exactly.
Exactly.
And so now when I first startedmy career at U of H, I struggled
with imposter syndrome.
I think I still do from, from,um, day to day on certain days.
And I think it's just part of.
That journey, right?
And I wish I could have toldmyself 10 years ago that it's
(23:07):
okay not to know everything.
And there are people around youwho want to help you.
But first you have to overcomeyour pride and be humble and ask
for help.
Right because I was afraid toask for help because I didn't
want people to think that Ididn't know what I was doing.
So in a sense, I was like mystudents so I have some of my
(23:27):
students are actually afraid tocome to exam reviews, Sonia
because they're afraid theirfriends would see them as
stupid.
Because only people who makemistakes on exam go to exam
reviews, but the purpose of examreviews is so you can review
what you did wrong so you can bebetter on your next exams,
right?
And so, um, yeah, this impostersyndrome I think can be so
(23:50):
detrimental, detrimental to usand prevent us from being, um,
who we're meant to be andreaching our full potential.
So, couldn't agree more.
Sonia (23:59):
Yeah, and this goes back to our audience.
This goes back to what Ameliaand I are teaching.
And there's so many parallels.
I love this.
We are teaching characterdevelopment.
We are teaching our children,our youth to be inquisitive.
To ask questions to discoverthemselves to identify their
skills to abilities to get thatpassion back that that feeling
(24:23):
of wanting to conquer the world,and from there, then guide them
through years of exploration,the years of From K to 12 should
be exploration, not defining.
There's so much they can learnand explore together.
and this is what, what Ameliaand I are doing is we're
advocating for us to allredefine, you know, the
(24:47):
education system.
Do they need to learn the fourcores?
Yes.
You know, they need to knowmath, the English, the reading,
the social studies, they need toknow that they need to know the
academic.
But where are we filling the gapin their character development
and discovering themselves?
Because once they do, thenthey'll feel their own self
esteem will be empowered forthem to this, to dream bigger
(25:08):
than what they could have everimagined.
And so this is important.
And so now we want to transitionto the last phase that I have a
question for you, which is allright.
Students have discoveredthemselves and they're exploring
careers.
How can we create exposure tocareers and opportunities that
they would have never eventhought of if they had not seen
(25:28):
it themselves.
Amelia (25:29):
That's a great question.
I think this is where peoplecome in.
Our learners our children haveto be connected with.
Right?
Because I, I think most learnersjust know, a very limited set of
careers or things that they cango into, right?
Can be a doctor, a lawyer, ateacher.
(25:51):
But then if you just connectwith people in your community,
you'll be surprised at the kindof jobs people actually hold.
Like, wow, I didn't know thatkind of jobs existed.
That's super cool, right?
And so I think teaching, um, ourlearners the power of connecting
with your community, connectingwith others around you,
listening to their stories andhow they get there is so
(26:13):
important so that they can beexposed to other things.
Besides what they typicallylearn in school.
Yeah,
Sonia (26:22):
that's beautiful.
Especially for our learners.
That, maybe they haven't hadthat much exposure.
But, it's honestly the samething if, you know, a child,
both parents are engineers.
Or both parents are doctors.
And, maybe the child, isdesigned is created in a way
that they want to pursue adifferent type of career.
(26:43):
If they don't have thatexposure, they would never know
that there's a possibility forthem to, dream even bigger using
their own skills, abilities.
I have truly enjoyed ourconversation, Amelia, and you
have shared so many insights.
Is there anything that you'dlike to share with our audience
for our parent listeners?
Maybe two or three takeawaysthat they can do today in their
(27:04):
home with their Children tostart creating that growth
mindset.
Amelia (27:09):
Yes So for parents, I will definitely say I really
believe that education starts athome, right?
And so we are really areChildren's biggest influencers
and educators.
So I think a couple of things.
So we can do to instill growthmindset is one to praise process
and effort, instead of praisinginnate abilities or fixed
(27:32):
abilities.
So instead of saying, Wow, John,you're so smart, we can say
instead, Wow, I can tell youwork really hard on that project
and look at the outcome.
Or going back to what we talkedabout, if John says, Mom, I'm
really not good at math.
So instead of saying, Well, somepeople are just not good at
(27:54):
math.
Then we can say, well, you'renot good at it yet.
But with enough practice andguidance, you can be great at
math and you will be right and areally great resource for this
that I use as a parent.
Because is that easy to kind ofchange the way we praise our
Children, right?
It takes time.
So there's a website calledmindset works dot com and
(28:14):
parents can go on there.
Go under the home resource anddownload this PDF.
Um, that they, um, that theyhave created.
And the title of the PDF is saythis Not that.
So it gives phrases that parentscan use to give, uh, praises
that will help their children tohave a growth mindset.
(28:35):
So some very practical thingsthat you can start doing.
I have that PDF, um, taped to mywall on my kitchen table to
remind me on how to praise mychildren the right way.
Um, second thing I would say, Ithink it's a question that I
would like parents to reflecton.
(28:55):
So, like I mentioned before, Ireally believe we are the
biggest influencers in ourchildren's lives.
So, the question that I'd likefor parents to think about is,
Are we working so hard to makeour children become who we want
them to be?
Or do we see them as who theytruly are?
This amazing human being withtheir own unique abilities and
(29:19):
talents and helping them becomewho they were meant to be.
Beautiful,
Sonia (29:26):
beautiful.
I love it because these aregreat tips that parents, no
matter in what education systemyour child is in, whether
public, private, and you'regoing to tell us a little bit
about acting in a minute, nomatter what system they're in,
these are things that you cantake control of in your own
home.
It's how you process what theyare currently doing now in the
(29:48):
classroom that you can changethe way they see it.
And can actually create a growthmindset from it.
Yes.
Yes, exactly.
I love it.
Emilia.
So to wrap up, tell us aboutyour school.
When will it open?
we'll create a a shout out foryour school.
Amelia (30:06):
Oh, thank you.
Sure.
So we are serving children agesfour to 11.
We are located in the ParalineTown Center.
We're currently enrolling.
Families right now, and we willbe opening in August.
And so, if you want to learnmore about us, you can go to our
website, MasterpieceAcademy.
org.
(30:26):
And you can contact me there,it'll go directly to my email
inbox, I'd love to connect withyou.
And you can also follow us onInstagram or Facebook.
Um, and
Sonia (30:37):
I'll make sure to have all the, links on our show
notes, including the book thatyou recommended parents to read
And it's been a pleasure havingyou here.
I hope this is just the first ofmany more to come because
there's so much alignment inwhat we're doing and I am just
so honored to have you here andcongrats on starting your new
(30:58):
career.
And also you ended your careerwith the charm as well, because
you've got accolades for all thework that you did.
And it's going to be a new eraand a new transition.
I'm really excited for what'scoming forward in the future for
you.
Amelia (31:13):
Thank you, Sonia.
And thank you again for thisopportunity.
Again, I love what you're doingfor our communities.
I can definitely see manyopportunities for collaboration
and synergy.
Sonia (31:23):
Thank you, Amelia.
Have a great day.
Thank you for listening in.
If you enjoyed this episode, itwould mean so much to me.
If you share it with a friend, acolleague, or your own
community, if you share it onsocial media and tag me, I'll
make sure to personally thankyou.
My two favorite places to hangout are Instagram and LinkedIn.
Check out our show notes for adirect link.
(31:45):
I'm so thankful for each andevery one of you.
And as always stay well, bepresent and enjoy the journey.
I'll talk to you next week.
Adios.
growth mindset is believing that your abilities
are not fixed and that it cangrow over time.
I'm a big proponent of growthmindset because if a learner has
a growth mindset, They're reallyequipped to overcome so many
challenges that they will see asan adult, versus if they have a
fixed mindset this mindset thatmy abilities are fixed, I'm just
(00:22):
not good at math, or I'm justnot good at communicating right
versus, I'm not good at mathyet, This is Amelia Sofia, and
you're listening to the collegeand career ready podcast.
(01:05):
Amelia Sofian discusses herjourney from clinical assistant
professor at University ofHouston College of Pharmacy to
educating students in her newschool, Masterpiece and Acton
Academy, a school focusing oncharacter development and real
world skills.
I am so excited Amelia and Iconnected because there should
(01:28):
be more of us advocating forstudents to be seen as an
individual and not just as agrade, as a pass or fail, or as
a numeric digit within a system.
I'm so excited to share thisconversation with you today.
So without further ado, let'sget started.
Sonia (01:45):
Hi, Amelia.
How are you doing today?
I'm good.
Sonia.
How are you?
I'm good.
Thank you for being a guest ofthe college and career ready
podcast.
I'm super excited to have youhere today.
Amelia (01:56):
Thank you.
I'm really excited to be here.
It's an honor.
I love what you're doing.
And so thank you for theopportunity.
Sonia (02:03):
let's dive right in.
Why don't you give our audiencea quick bio of yourself, who you
are and, what made us connect?
Amelia (02:12):
Absolutely.
Sure.
So I am first and foremost, awife and a mom of two young
boys.
I live here in Paralim.
Um, I immigrated with my familyfrom Indonesia to Houston when I
was 11 years old.
And growing up, um, teaching hasalways been my passion.
So my mom told me that when Iwas five or six years old, when
(02:34):
I did pretend play with myfriends, I would pretend to be
the teacher.
And I would make my friends bemy students.
So my poor friends, but thatlove for teaching really
followed me throughout.
Um, so, you know, I served as atutor in high school and
college.
And along the way, I discoveredtwo more passions, which were my
love for chemistry and forconnecting with people.
(02:57):
And so because of that, Idecided to pursue a career in
pharmacy.
So I thought it would be a niceblend of my three passions.
And my dream was that when Ifinished pharmacy school, I
would work at a college ofpharmacy where I get to teach
students and also be apharmacist.
Right.
Um, and I was very fortunatethat that actually happened.
(03:18):
I was offered my dream job 10years ago.
Um, and I was invited to join asan infection.
just disease as a clinicalassistant professor at the
Houston College of Pharmacy.
And this really has been mydream job, uh, for the past 10
years, because I get to teachstudents.
I also get to practice as apharmacist and serve patients.
(03:39):
Right.
And I thought I would retirehere.
But the Lord had something elsein mind.
Um, so I actually just resignedfrom that position, uh, last
month, um, to open an innovativeprivate school called
Masterpiece and Acton Academyfor my children and families in
our Paralim community.
(04:01):
Oh my goodness.
Sonia (04:02):
I love, I love your story.
Um, because You know, you arethe prime example of what's
happening today in the job andin the career field is that
people are following theirpassions in the season of life
that they're in.
So there was a season for whereyou were at.
You maximize that opportunity.
(04:22):
You loved it.
You enjoyed it.
It's not like you're saying, Ohmy gosh, I was, you know, a
professor for 10 years and Ihated my job.
No, you were passionate and youloved it.
But in this season of your life,you are going back to some of
those innate skills that you hadfrom the very beginning of
continuing to be in education.
But now you're, you'rechallenging in, you're
(04:45):
challenging the status quo ineducation.
And, we had a great conversationabout that.
So tell our audience what thisinnovative way of teaching our
next generation is all about.
Amelia (04:59):
Absolutely.
Yes.
So I'll kind of Give a 10, 000foot view of what Masterpiece
Enactment Academy is all about,and then how I took this leap of
faith.
Does that sound good?
Yeah, sounds perfect.
Okay.
So masterpiece and actingAcademy.
What we're about is we are aboutemphasizing character
development and real worldskills over passing tests.
(05:21):
And we trust children withfreedom and responsibility for
their own learning.
So imagine a school where yourchildren are free to learn at
their own pace.
to move in the classroom and toquestion a place where we
instill character traits likegrit, empathy, and kindness, uh,
(05:41):
and a place where they get todevelop skills that will help
them thrive in the real world,like communication, critical
thinking skills, and takingresponsibility for their own
learning journey, right?
And ultimately, our mission isto help them discover who they
are.
So they can find their callingand go change the world.
So that's what our school is allabout.
(06:03):
Now, how did I take this leap offaith?
So as I was sharing with you,uh, Sonia, when we first met,
um, teaching, because it hasbeen my number one passion, I
was Always looking forinnovative ways to better engage
my learners in the classroombecause I noticed there was
increased level of disengagementover time.
Well, one day I just stumbledupon Acton Academy, this really
(06:24):
unconventional school thatstarted out in 2009.
But now has grown into a networkof 300 private schools across 23
countries.
Yeah, so I was feeling reallycurious and I decided to dive
into this book called Courage toGrow, which is essentially a day
in the life of Acton Academy.
And the funny thing is the booksaid that if you decide to read
(06:46):
it, warning, you might end upwanting to open your own Acton
Academy.
Well, guess what?
That's exactly what happened tome.
Right.
But of course, I wasn't ready tomake such a life changing
decision after reading a book.
So what I did was I actuallyexperimented with Acton methods
in my own college classroom.
(07:07):
So I basically created a brandnew course where there were no
lectures, no tests, There werestill plenty of assessments, but
they were skills based and Itrusted my learners to peer
grade and peer evaluate eachother.
So trusting the more with morepower in their learning journey,
right?
And this was probably only 10percent of active methods, but
(07:29):
that 10 percent just sparked atransformation, like the depth
of learning and the love forlearning that I witnessed just
exceeded all of my expectationsas a teacher.
And one learner wrote a commentAnd on my course evaluation that
I'll never forget, he basicallywrote, I could have gotten a C
in the course and not caredbecause I truly enjoyed the
(07:51):
challenges in this course.
I wanted to meet the courseobjectives and just learn as
much as possible.
And for me, Sonia, that was thedream.
That was my dream as a teacher.
Sure.
Right.
Where learners just focus on thejoy of learning and not worry
about the grades.
And so I realized that I didn'twant this kind of education just
for my learners.
(08:11):
I wanted it for my own children.
And so after praying about itfor many, many months and, you
know, battling my own innermonsters, there were plenty of
those.
Um, I finally took a leap offaith.
To leave that decade long careerand to start a new journey.
Sonia (08:27):
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
I need a moment here to processthis because this is everything
I'm passionate and I speakabout.
And here you have real worldexperience with adult learners
that you have tested thesestrategies and you have seen the
effect.
(08:47):
Why?
Because you're diving into theirpersonal why they're their
personal skills, abilities andinterests.
So you're, you're creating thatengagement first and foremost,
and then you are allowing themto discover at their own pace
and get that motivation.
And I think this is somethingthat we're going to see in the
generations to come.
(09:07):
Mark my words.
Um, they are looking for careerswhere they are passionate about,
they're engaged and and wetalked about this.
Um, when we met in person, Itake the word passionate loosely
because in the high school yearsor before it's, it's exploration
years, years for them todiscover interest, explore
(09:29):
opportunities.
Now, passions can suddenly be.
Um, and I think that's somethingthat we discovered and
identified definitely in, youknow, middle school and high
school, maybe in college, butyou've got to expose students to
the opportunities out there.
And I love the fact that youtalk so much about character
development.
(09:51):
I mean, now you're not justhaving a student in the
classroom, you're having a realhuman being who you're
connecting with.
And I think that was beautiful.
I think that was a big piece ofyour success is really diving
into the real world experienceswith them through this, this new
platform.
What did your students thinkwhen they came into the
classroom when they heard thatthis is, this is going to be a
(10:13):
new, a new system of learning?
Yeah,
Amelia (10:17):
honestly, I don't think they knew what to expect because
there was no other course likethis in the college.
And so I took the first two daysjust to kind of orient them to
what is this class about?
Why did I make it this way?
Right?
And I really wanted them tofocus on the why.
Why are you guys here?
(10:37):
What do you want to get out ofthis?
Right?
And then why did I structure itthis way?
It's for your own learningbenefit.
And let me show you why.
Right?
So I think the hook.
During that first two classroomsessions were so important
because now they're rooted inthe fact that she cares about my
learning journey.
She cares about my success.
And so I'm going to be investedin this.
(10:58):
So I think setting the stagesetting the expectations and
letting them know that you careabout their development and
you're there for their success.
Really set up the entire course.
Sonia (11:12):
Wow.
Did you, did you encounter anyhesitation from faculty?
Um, you know, administrators,those who basically give you the
green lights, to implement thisin the classroom.
Amelia (11:23):
Great question.
So because this course was anelective, I did not experience
too many pushback, uh, becauseit was that I'm a required
course, right?
So I had a lot more freedom toexperiment.
And that's actually why Idecided to implement in an
elective course so that I hadmore freedom to experiment.
Um, because it was so new, youknow, I think people were just
(11:46):
kind of watching me in the backto see how it went.
And then after the first year ortwo, I got to share my success
story with my faculty.
So now they're More interestedin learning about peer to peer
assessment, giving students morepower in the classroom.
So I think it's opening up doorsfor possibilities.
Sonia (12:06):
That's beautiful.
I love how you are completelychallenging the status quo.
I know a lot of parents arethinking, Well, what if I give
them too much freedom in theirlearning?
Have you encountered Thatconcern.
Amelia (12:21):
I have.
I have encountered that concernwith prospective parents for my
current school, right?
And so I think my typicalresponse would be when it comes
to when it comes to education.
We want to begin with the end inmind, right?
And the end in mind is ourChildren are going to be adults
(12:41):
who are free, right?
They have complete freedom overtheir lives, and their lives is
going to be about the choicesthat they make.
So while they're still with us,what I am a big proponent of is
to give freedom within limits,right?
Our children need limits.
And when we set that limits asadults, they're likely going to
(13:03):
create their own limits.
But it's so important to givethem choices and freedom because
then they learn to make goodchoices and bad choices and
experience natural consequencesof those choices.
So then when they're no longerwith us.
They can make wiser and betterchoices.
That
Sonia (13:23):
is so beautifully said, because one of the things I
advocate for, and which is why Icreated this podcast is because
of the gap that we have betweenthe transition from high school
to college and college tocareers, and this is.
Solves that problem.
The problem we're having rightnow is that we're going from a
system in high school whereeverything is programmed,
(13:44):
everything's organized andstructured, and our students
don't have to think they don'thave to, you know, create time
management skills.
And then they go from there tocollege where it's complete
freedom.
And guess what?
32 percent of our undergraduatestudents do not complete their
degree.
32 percent because nobodytransitioned that.
(14:04):
So this is so beautifully saidthat within limits we can
provide those those segments offreedom for students to
basically take charge of theirown learning.
Amelia (14:16):
Exactly.
Exactly.
And like you said, when they arestill, um, you know, in our
home, it's still They typicallyare not as high, right?
And so I will share a story withyou.
Um, um, that I had while I wasserving at U of H.
So I had a learner whocompletely missed an exam by
five hours because he oversleptand he ended up having to take a
(14:39):
zero on that exam.
And then he ultimately failedthe course and had to be held
back a year.
So in this case, um, and heexplained to me that he did that
because he studied all night.
He pulled up.
All nighter, and then he wasjust too exhausted and did not
hear his alarm.
Right.
So this was an instance where alearner made a poor choice, and
(15:01):
the stakes were very, very high.
Right.
And so what I want to encourageparents to do and reminding
myself to do is that whensomething like this happens to
our children, let's say theydon't wake up for school, and
they're going to miss a quiz.
Because of that, I wouldencourage parents to let them
take that zero in that quiz whenthey're in high school when the
(15:24):
stakes are lower because theywill learn from that.
And what I experienced as aprofessor probably won't happen
again, if that makes sense.
Sonia (15:33):
Yes, that makes complete total sense and that's where you
mentioned the naturalconsequences instead of saying
you are grounded for a wholeweek and you don't get to see
your friends or I'm going totake away your phone.
They're receiving the naturalconsequence.
I love that growth mindsetexplain to our audience with a
(15:56):
growth mindset is
Amelia (15:58):
sure.
So I think very simply a growthmindset is believing that your
abilities are not fixed and thatit can grow over time.
So this believe that, uh, thebelieve in neuroplasticity,
right, that our brain developsand grow over time.
Uh, and I'm a big proponent ofgrowth mindset because I think
if a learner has a growthmindset, they are.
(16:21):
They're really equipped toovercome so many challenges that
they will see as an adult,versus if they have a fixed
mindset this mindset that myabilities are fixed, like, I'm
just not good at math, or I'mjust not good at communicating
right versus, you know, I'm notgood at math yet, but I can be.
If I practice, right?
(16:42):
Yes.
Sonia (16:43):
I love that.
I love that.
I always add, I love that yousaid yet, because I always, the
students that I coach, when theysay, Oh, I can't.
And I always say yet.
So I want to remind them exactlywhat you're saying, that there
is a growth mindset.
Um, my daughter for so manyyears, She was like, I don't
like math.
I'm not good at math.
I'm not good at math.
We heard that, you know, for acouple of years.
(17:05):
And then suddenly she had agreat, amazing, um, teacher that
instilled the love.
Of math to the point where Shebecame skilled at math that then
she was saying, Oh, I love math.
I'm so good at math.
And again, it was that oneopportunity that a teacher came
(17:25):
in to really change her mindseton how to see math.
And it really has helped her tonow, you know, saying that she
loves math.
Amelia (17:34):
I love it.
I love it.
Yeah.
Sometimes we just have to followthe child and
Sonia (17:37):
wait for that time.
Yeah, absolutely.
So tell me how some of theseskills that you're teaching and
that we're advocating for thecharacter development, the
growth mindset, um, the freedom,um, of, or in responsibility of
their own learning.
How is this going to apply inthe career in the real world?
(17:59):
Within their careers.
Amelia (18:01):
Absolutely.
Right.
So freedom and responsibility.
So when they go out, um, andthey find a career and they have
a real job, right?
More than likely their bosses,most bosses are not going to
micromanage, right?
They're going to give them setresponsibilities and plenty of
freedom on how to manage thosetasks.
(18:23):
So if you give them those, um,exposure now, they'll be set up
for success when they have to doit as an adult, having a real
job, right?
Um, growth mindset.
I would say a lot of people haveto learn new skills on the job.
Right.
We come to a job.
Yes.
Having our degree.
(18:44):
We know a lot of things, butthere's so many things you have
to learn on the job that youjust don't know at the
beginning.
And if you have a growthmindset, you will see those
opportunities as challenges thatyou can overcome that.
Yes, I can learn new things.
I know how to learn.
Right.
But if they don't have that,then that is going to be such a,
such a challenging task.
(19:04):
And it may be a hindrance from,for them, um, to go forward in
their calling or in theircareers.
and then things like, mindset isto redefine what failure is.
So I have a professor who saidthat fail stands for first
attempt in learning.
(19:25):
And I love, yes, because I havejust met so many learners who
are just so afraid of failureand don't know how to cope with
failure, right?
But we're gonna encounterfailures, um, when you are a
student in college or whenyou're in your jobs, it's just a
part of life, right?
But if we can embrace failure asa part of learning, and as
(19:47):
necessary, it's really going tohelp you wherever you go,
whatever journey.
You take
Sonia (19:54):
that is so perfectly said, especially because and I
have experienced this myself,you know, with the students I
interact with and, and, youknow, As active as I am in the
community with the youth.
Yeah.
Sometimes it's not that theparents are creating this
pressure.
Sometimes it is, but some, butfor the most part, it's the
(20:16):
pressure they put on themselves,whether it's society, whether
it's.
whether it's education, Ifactors.
But they, they are much pressurethat they'r because they're so
afraid I'll give you a perfect eChildren see our youth se media
(20:38):
and social media ha I will neversay that we need to get rid of
it completely, but they go tosocial media and they see the
best of best of everything,right?
They don't see the process.
They don't see the journey.
They don't see that it took somany failures.
So they don't know that to getthat one.
Yes.
They had to first get nine no's.
And so it's so important for usas community members, as
(21:02):
parents, as educators, to reallyhelp them understand that we
actually want them to fail andfail fast.
Because the quicker they fill,the quicker they will learn and
the quicker they will grow.
Amelia (21:14):
Exactly.
I could not agree more.
And, you know, I think asparents, as both you and I are
moms, I think, you know, what wecan do as parents Parents is to
share our moments of failurewith our Children, because this
is something that I do with mylearners, um, to just create a
more vulnerable setting.
(21:35):
But because sometimes learnersput teachers in this pedestal.
That teachers know everything.
Teachers don't make mistakes.
But as soon as I share, you knowwhat, I have failed miserably.
Let me tell you about myfailures and what I learned from
it.
Right.
And I think when our childrenhear that from their parents,
then failures become moreacceptable and are not something
(21:58):
to be fearful of.
Sonia (22:01):
Yes.
And that reminds me, youmentioned something earlier
about imposter syndrome.
We didn't mention the word atthe time, but, you know, you
gave examples of how, studentsstart questioning their ability
and, or when you're out in theworkforce, you finish your
education and students, if youhave student listeners, I'm
going to tell you the.
The real honest truth.
You will graduate with yourdegree because we all did as
professionals.
(22:21):
And then you will get into, youwill transition into your
career.
And guess what?
You're not going to know all theanswers.
And you're going to feel likeyou're an imposter.
Like who am I to be in thiscareer in this role with this
degree?
And I don't know all theanswers.
Well, you won't know theanswers.
Right off the bat, but there isa learning curve that has to
happen in order for you tocontinue to grow.
(22:44):
That's where the growth mindsetcomes into play.
Amelia (22:47):
Exactly.
Exactly.
And so now when I first startedmy career at U of H, I struggled
with imposter syndrome.
I think I still do from, from,um, day to day on certain days.
And I think it's just part of.
That journey, right?
And I wish I could have toldmyself 10 years ago that it's
(23:07):
okay not to know everything.
And there are people around youwho want to help you.
But first you have to overcomeyour pride and be humble and ask
for help.
Right because I was afraid toask for help because I didn't
want people to think that Ididn't know what I was doing.
So in a sense, I was like mystudents so I have some of my
(23:27):
students are actually afraid tocome to exam reviews, Sonia
because they're afraid theirfriends would see them as
stupid.
Because only people who makemistakes on exam go to exam
reviews, but the purpose of examreviews is so you can review
what you did wrong so you can bebetter on your next exams,
right?
And so, um, yeah, this impostersyndrome I think can be so
(23:50):
detrimental, detrimental to usand prevent us from being, um,
who we're meant to be andreaching our full potential.
So, couldn't agree more.
Sonia (23:59):
Yeah, and this goes back to our audience.
This goes back to what Ameliaand I are teaching.
And there's so many parallels.
I love this.
We are teaching characterdevelopment.
We are teaching our children,our youth to be inquisitive.
To ask questions to discoverthemselves to identify their
skills to abilities to get thatpassion back that that feeling
(24:23):
of wanting to conquer the world,and from there, then guide them
through years of exploration,the years of From K to 12 should
be exploration, not defining.
There's so much they can learnand explore together.
and this is what, what Ameliaand I are doing is we're
advocating for us to allredefine, you know, the
(24:47):
education system.
Do they need to learn the fourcores?
Yes.
You know, they need to knowmath, the English, the reading,
the social studies, they need toknow that they need to know the
academic.
But where are we filling the gapin their character development
and discovering themselves?
Because once they do, thenthey'll feel their own self
esteem will be empowered forthem to this, to dream bigger
(25:08):
than what they could have everimagined.
And so this is important.
And so now we want to transitionto the last phase that I have a
question for you, which is allright.
Students have discoveredthemselves and they're exploring
careers.
How can we create exposure tocareers and opportunities that
they would have never eventhought of if they had not seen
(25:28):
it themselves.
Amelia (25:29):
That's a great question.
I think this is where peoplecome in.
Our learners our children haveto be connected with.
Right?
Because I, I think most learnersjust know, a very limited set of
careers or things that they cango into, right?
Can be a doctor, a lawyer, ateacher.
(25:51):
But then if you just connectwith people in your community,
you'll be surprised at the kindof jobs people actually hold.
Like, wow, I didn't know thatkind of jobs existed.
That's super cool, right?
And so I think teaching, um, ourlearners the power of connecting
with your community, connectingwith others around you,
listening to their stories andhow they get there is so
(26:13):
important so that they can beexposed to other things.
Besides what they typicallylearn in school.
Yeah,
Sonia (26:22):
that's beautiful.
Especially for our learners.
That, maybe they haven't hadthat much exposure.
But, it's honestly the samething if, you know, a child,
both parents are engineers.
Or both parents are doctors.
And, maybe the child, isdesigned is created in a way
that they want to pursue adifferent type of career.
(26:43):
If they don't have thatexposure, they would never know
that there's a possibility forthem to, dream even bigger using
their own skills, abilities.
I have truly enjoyed ourconversation, Amelia, and you
have shared so many insights.
Is there anything that you'dlike to share with our audience
for our parent listeners?
Maybe two or three takeawaysthat they can do today in their
(27:04):
home with their Children tostart creating that growth
mindset.
Amelia (27:09):
Yes So for parents, I will definitely say I really
believe that education starts athome, right?
And so we are really areChildren's biggest influencers
and educators.
So I think a couple of things.
So we can do to instill growthmindset is one to praise process
and effort, instead of praisinginnate abilities or fixed
(27:32):
abilities.
So instead of saying, Wow, John,you're so smart, we can say
instead, Wow, I can tell youwork really hard on that project
and look at the outcome.
Or going back to what we talkedabout, if John says, Mom, I'm
really not good at math.
So instead of saying, Well, somepeople are just not good at
(27:54):
math.
Then we can say, well, you'renot good at it yet.
But with enough practice andguidance, you can be great at
math and you will be right and areally great resource for this
that I use as a parent.
Because is that easy to kind ofchange the way we praise our
Children, right?
It takes time.
So there's a website calledmindset works dot com and
(28:14):
parents can go on there.
Go under the home resource anddownload this PDF.
Um, that they, um, that theyhave created.
And the title of the PDF is saythis Not that.
So it gives phrases that parentscan use to give, uh, praises
that will help their children tohave a growth mindset.
(28:35):
So some very practical thingsthat you can start doing.
I have that PDF, um, taped to mywall on my kitchen table to
remind me on how to praise mychildren the right way.
Um, second thing I would say, Ithink it's a question that I
would like parents to reflecton.
(28:55):
So, like I mentioned before, Ireally believe we are the
biggest influencers in ourchildren's lives.
So, the question that I'd likefor parents to think about is,
Are we working so hard to makeour children become who we want
them to be?
Or do we see them as who theytruly are?
This amazing human being withtheir own unique abilities and
(29:19):
talents and helping them becomewho they were meant to be.
Beautiful,
Sonia (29:26):
beautiful.
I love it because these aregreat tips that parents, no
matter in what education systemyour child is in, whether
public, private, and you'regoing to tell us a little bit
about acting in a minute, nomatter what system they're in,
these are things that you cantake control of in your own
home.
It's how you process what theyare currently doing now in the
(29:48):
classroom that you can changethe way they see it.
And can actually create a growthmindset from it.
Yes.
Yes, exactly.
I love it.
Emilia.
So to wrap up, tell us aboutyour school.
When will it open?
we'll create a a shout out foryour school.
Amelia (30:06):
Oh, thank you.
Sure.
So we are serving children agesfour to 11.
We are located in the ParalineTown Center.
We're currently enrolling.
Families right now, and we willbe opening in August.
And so, if you want to learnmore about us, you can go to our
website, MasterpieceAcademy.
org.
(30:26):
And you can contact me there,it'll go directly to my email
inbox, I'd love to connect withyou.
And you can also follow us onInstagram or Facebook.
Um, and
Sonia (30:37):
I'll make sure to have all the, links on our show
notes, including the book thatyou recommended parents to read
And it's been a pleasure havingyou here.
I hope this is just the first ofmany more to come because
there's so much alignment inwhat we're doing and I am just
so honored to have you here andcongrats on starting your new
(30:58):
career.
And also you ended your careerwith the charm as well, because
you've got accolades for all thework that you did.
And it's going to be a new eraand a new transition.
I'm really excited for what'scoming forward in the future for
you.
Amelia (31:13):
Thank you, Sonia.
And thank you again for thisopportunity.
Again, I love what you're doingfor our communities.
I can definitely see manyopportunities for collaboration
and synergy.
Sonia (31:23):
Thank you, Amelia.
Have a great day.
Thank you for listening in.
If you enjoyed this episode, itwould mean so much to me.
If you share it with a friend, acolleague, or your own
community, if you share it onsocial media and tag me, I'll
make sure to personally thankyou.
My two favorite places to hangout are Instagram and LinkedIn.
Check out our show notes for adirect link.
(31:45):
I'm so thankful for each andevery one of you.
And as always stay well, bepresent and enjoy the journey.
I'll talk to you next week.
Adios.
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