To My Beloved Community at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School and The Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation:

You inspire me.

Your inquiry. (You’re inquiry.)

Your innovation. (You’re innovation.)

Your impact. (You’re impact.)

They inspire me, and you inspire me. And so I challenge you.

What is your “mold?” What is your idea bubbling forward and exploding out from/to your inquiry and innovation and impact?

I challenge you to spend as long as it takes to watch “The Year in Ideas: TED Talks in 2014.” (And if you are “older,” please consider starting with the TEDx below from Jonathan Sackner-Bernstein: “It’s Not Too Late to Make a Difference.”)

The talks themselves are incredible, instructive, and educational. I learned quite a bit from watching them all myself. They are full of content. They model remarkable skills. They are stories from innovators nurtured.

But that’s not why I share them here and challenge you.

I share them with you and use them to catalyze a challenge that you are already engaged in. More than most schools, our school is designed for us to find our mold and make a difference, whether defined through an inquiry, an innovation, or an impact…or perhaps at the intersection of all three.

We have our courses. We have our co-curriculars. We also gloriously have our (i)Project. We have our (i)Diploma. We have MoVe talks. We have #MVIFI. We have our R&D teams.

Yes, more than most, we live in a system that encourages us and supports us to be just like the people on that stage in the TED and TEDx talks.

What will your talk be about? What actions and pursuits will provide the meat and potatoes for your talk?

I cannot wait to listen and learn from you!

And please let me know how I can help, join in, participate, celebrate, provoke, applaud, provide feedback, nourish, spur, support, and challenge you even more.

Thank you for all you do to inspire and challenge me daily. I am grateful and humbled at being a part of this beloved community. I am thankful to be a #Transformer alongside you.

On to 2015!

Sincerely,

Bo Adams

Parent, Colleague & Chief Learning and Innovation Officer