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Episode 014 – Design39Campus Interview with Sonya Wrisley, Neel Pujar, and Stacey Lamb

Lynn Fuini-Hetten and Randy Ziegenfuss

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In Episode 14, we have an engaging conversation with Sonya Wrisley, Neel Pujar and Stacey Lamb from Design39Campus in CA. There were lots of takeaways as we listened to the story of designing a school to creating the conditions for intentional conversations about what to give up from the old school-centered model.

Sonya was previously a principal in Poway Unified School District, in San Diego County, for 24 years.  Sonya was named as the principal of an innovative new K-8 public school, Design39Campus, which opened in August 2014, the first of its kind in the district.  After working extensively with the school’s community, Design39Campus developed a reputation as a learner-centered environment. In the Spring of 2014, prior to opening in the Fall, enrollment for the initial 850 seats produced a list of over 2,000 students wanting to attend Design39Campus. Upon opening in August 2014, the campus became a place that educators from around the world wanted to visit, with over 130 tours provided by staff and students that school year.  Sonya’s energy, enthusiasm, vision and drive to make schools better for children are contagious, and she is able to help schools make great things happen.

Neel serves as an Education Reimagined Fellow facilitating SparkHouse, a team of over 40 learners from across the country looking to transform K-12 education in the United States. Neel provides mentorship, guidance, and support to inspire continued action and dialogue amongst the SparkHouse community. He serves as a liaison between Education Reimagined and SparkHouse learners. Prior to this role, Neel was also a founding team member of Design39Campus and served as the student board member on the Poway Unified School District’s Board of Education.

Stacey is an LED (Learning Experience Designer) at Design39Campus. She was a founding educator at the 3 year old campus who met, researched, planned, and implemented a new curriculum to transform the educational experience for TK-8 learners. She collaborates daily with a team of LEDs to inspire learning that continues well beyond the school day. Global connections, inquiry, design thinking, and personalization are some of the guiding principles that are helping to create a learner-centered focus. Currently, Stacey teaches an integrated curriculum to 200-4th and 5th graders, as well as a variety of experiential classes with topics chosen by the learners.

As a result of this conversation, we starting thinking about these questions:

  1. What are the guiding principles behind your vision for learning in your school?
  2. How do you create the conditions for learners to develop a curious mentality and a willingness to ask questions – a culture of inquiry?

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