Finding Why: Learning About and Launching “Life Design” Curriculum and Coursework
Friday, June 7, 2024 9:00am to 4:00pm
AND
Saturday, June 8, 2024 9:00am to 1:00pm
In the Hanahau'oli School Professional Development Center
located at 1922 Makiki Street, Honolulu HI 96822
Participants are eligible to receive a $250 participation stipend
and a limited number of modest travel stipends are available for neighbor island participants
Life changes when you develop a process for self-understanding and personal wayfinding.
Inspired by Designing Your Life (Stanford’s “most popular class”) and Life Worth Living (the “most in-demand course” in Yale’s Humanities Program), Finding Why was launched at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM) in Summer 2023. A cohorted exploration of a life well-lived, this course was piloted with a group of local high school students who spent two weeks digging into some of life’s biggest questions:
Identity: How does my unique life journey make me who I am today?
Values: How do I want to measure my life? What do I really want most?
Time, Energy, Money: How do I build a life that "works"?
Pivoting & Course Correction: What do I do when things aren't working?
This course supported students in learning more about themselves and becoming more deliberate in the design of their life path. At the end of the course they reported being better prepared to take ownership of their educational journey (and beyond) with new levels of conviction and certainty. With a clear end goal in mind, the theory is that they will be more likely to persevere in the face of life’s challenges.
The purpose of this workshop is to share more about the rationale behind offering “life design” curriculum and coursework, and models (both national and local) for introducing a course like this in your school or educational context. We will explore the big ideas from purpose education and life design. You will hear the story of Finding Why and successful initiatives from across the country. Then, you will participate in a facilitated process of designing for your own context, dreaming and designing together with peers. Each participant will leave with a personal action plan for incorporating lessons learned into their own work with students.
Funded by the UHM Strategic Investment Initiative, participants in this workshop will receive $250 stipends for participating in the two-day workshop then developing and implementing a plan for integrating lessons learned into their schools and educational contexts. A limited number of neighbor island travel stipends are also available on a first come, first served basis.
This workshop is primarily intended for educators who work with high school or adult aged students, but all are welcome to apply.
About the Facilitators:
Jaimee Rojas, Ed.M., has spent most of her 24 years in education at an equity-centered project-based charter school organization, High Tech High, in San Diego. She has most recently served as an Instructional Coach at Punahou School where she was coaching teachers in math and place-based, sustainable project design. She now works as a School Designer with EL Education. She received her Masters in Education in School Leadership from Harvard University Graduate School of Education and her Bachelor's Degree from Pepperdine University in English and Writing. She holds teaching credentials in English, Social Science, and Special Education and was a Humanities Teacher for 14 years. Jaimee is passionate about serving schools to cultivate student-led experiences of deeper learning and belonging She has founded three schools in her career with High Tech High. She has a 20-year-old son in college in Arizona and loves to go on road trips with him, watch him play baseball, and just continue to connect as he enters young adult life. She also loves good food, good company, hot yoga, running on the beach, chasing waterfalls, and traveling.
Tyler Fujita, M.Ed. is the Project Director for Finding Why. He led the team’s efforts to launch the project, secure support from UHM, and oversee project delivery from design through pilot. Additionally, Tyler is the Assistant Director of the Wo International Center at Punahou School. In this role, he works on programs related to global and experiential/travel-based education. He brings previous experience as a management consultant and nonprofit program officer. Tyler earned an M.Ed. in Curriculum Studies (Progressive Philosophy and Pedagogy) from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.