I met my friend and mentor, Marc, in 2017. We were introduced by the administrator of an alternative education program I had joined earlier that year. Marc and I quickly developed a habit of meeting regularly over coffee to exchange books, reflect on challenges, and explore our shared interests in systems thinking and education reform.
During one of these meetings, Marc mentioned that he had been invited to speak at a conference but had decided to decline. On a sudden impulse, I responded,
"Maybe I could speak at the conference instead?"
Marc tilted his head back, lips pursed, brow furrowed, his eyes darting as if he’d entered spontaneous REM (I half-suspect he did). Finally, he replied,
"That’s an interesting idea..."
The Conference
A few months later, I was booking a flight to Bogotá, Colombia, where Marc and I would present to an international audience of professors, systems science experts, and education policymakers.
Our talk centered on my experience in an alternative education program and an experiment we conducted, where five students, myself included, were given the freedom to design and follow their own curriculum. This self-directed approach allowed me to develop skills in model-based systems engineering and website development, which I then applied in projects with local nonprofits and small businesses.
Our presentation showcased how this student-led curriculum fostered both personal, professional, and academic growth, sparking discussions among educators and policymakers about adapting self-directed learning models within traditional systems.
Despite the success of the presentation, I fell seriously ill during my trip to Colombia, forcing me to fly back to the States two weeks earlier than planned. Nevertheless, the experience marked my first large-scale professional engagement and paved the way for future community-driven work, most notably, CARIN.