The Project School

When we moved to Indy last year, I took a job at The Project School. It was a first year charter school, opening in a neighborhood that has just begun to go through revitalization, and its philosophy adhered to everything I ever hoped I could find in a school. When I got the job, I was so excited.

I went to work basically right when we moved. I never really had a maternity leave with Adelyn - that's how much this job meant to me. Last year was the hardest year of my life. My young family had just moved, Ryan and I started new jobs, we had a brand new baby, and I felt like I was basically in my first year of teaching again. I look back on it and can't believe what we did that year.

Today, we hosted a press conference for the Indianapolis mayor in our new green space that our school leader and others spent countless hours making happen. In September, we stood at the window of our building with such pride as we watched bushes get planted, a fence get put in, and grass get planted.

Our building is a restored car factory. Our green space was a brown field in the middle of an extremely industrial part of town.

But our school is so much more than a building. Yesterday I walked into a room where staff members were sharing new ways they were conferencing with students, and I sat in a meeting where people were feeling positive about being supported and the teaching they are doing. On a day to day basis, I work with teachers who are genuinely working on becoming the very best teachers they can be. They work endless hours. They are constantly making changes to their teaching to be better than they were the day before. They are the epitome of what a teachers should be. They are teaching the way children should be taught. They are celebrating kids for who they are and teaching them how to truly be life long learners.

As I stood at the press conference with media there, I listened to the people speaking, but I mostly watched the students who were so well behaved and so proud that this was their school. I felt so much pride - and it made all of the work we do on a day to day basis so worth it!

I wish I had better pictures. I wish there was a way to document the emotion and pride I felt today. These photos are the best I can do.

Visit our site at www.theprojectschool.org and click on Indianapolis (our sister school in Bloomington just opened this year).

It's just awesome!