The NGA Fellowship Talks - high school of the future?

"Where in the world do you see high schoolers do this?"

"It was amazing. I was able to understand on another level what Acton truly represents."

"This is the level of clarity and depth you want your children to have when they go through high school."

• Several parent reactions after listening to four learners give their NGA Fellowship Talks this past Friday on our campus.

It's no surprise that perhaps the biggest crisis in mainstream education today isn't academic, it's existential. More and more young people are graduating high school without knowing who they are, what their purpose is, or where they're headed. Loading up on AP courses or dual credit classes won't fix that. Scoring a 1500 on the SAT won't either. Neither will a packed activity schedule or a polished transcript.

So what do you do with these four critical years? How do you give young people a genuine sense of purpose and passion, and real-world experience pursuing it?

Enter Acton Academy's Next Great Adventure program: a series of projects, processes, and badges designed to help young people discover a calling and pursue it with everything they've got.

At the culmination of the NGA journey is the Fellowship Talk. Our Warriors took up the opportunity to deliver 10-minute speeches about their Next Great Adventure and the journey that led them there, for a chance to earn up to $100,000 toward making it real.

This past Friday, four of our Launchpad high schoolers took the stage... and they did not disappoint.

The room was full: parents, learners, guides, and fellow Acton owners from four different campuses, all gathered to listen. What followed was riveting.

These weren't polished performances that simply "sounded good." They were something far better: four young people standing fully in their own stories, speaking with the kind of conviction most adults spend decades searching for, sharing ideas that could actually change the world, and that they had already begun to act on.

But don't take our word for it. You can watch them yourself here: NGA Fellowship Talks!

A note of gratitude: none of this happens without the parents and mentors who show up, not just on Friday nights, but consistently, in the unglamorous in-between moments that shape a young person's life. Thank you for giving your time, your presence, and your belief to these remarkable young people. Also, a special thanks to: Dave and his team from Acton Academy Chisholm Creek near Oklahoma City, Cyndi from Acton Frisco, Heather from Acton Weatherford and the fellow travelers you brought with you. Your willingness to travel and witness this moment meant more than you know. This is what the Acton community looks like at its best.