Ashoka
Bricolage Academy
Bricolage Academy opened its doors in fall 2013 to 75 kindergarten students. The school was designed as a deliberate departure from a traditional school model and in response to an overwhelming desire on part of New Orleans parents and community members who sought a school that balanced diversity and creative freedom with academic rigor and accountability.
Over the span of two years prior to its opening, Bricolage’s founders organized discussion groups and ‘pop- up’ play dates in neighborhoods across New Orleans, as well as visited excellent, progressive elementary school models across the nation. During this time, they gathered input and ideas for a high quality school that prepared students for a future that would require comfort with peers of diverse backgrounds and fluency with creative problem solving and technology. Bricolage’s mission and vision were ultimately solidified, and in November 2012, its charter was unanimously approved by the Orleans Parish School Board.
Today, Bricolage is a thriving K-2 elementary school with the mission of advancing educational equity by preparing students of diverse backgrounds to be innovators who change the world. The school is also in great demand: there are five applications for each available school seat. Each year the school will add 100 students and one grade level, such that by 2021, the school will serve 675 students in grades K-8.
Josh Densen
Josh started working on Bricolage when his daughter was applying for Kindergartens in New Orleans, and he and his wife were underwhelmed with their options. They were looking for a school that was non-selective, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse, academically excellent and committed to preparing their students to impact their ever-changing world as adults. They found no schools that met these criteria. He started talking with other families across New Orleans and heard similar desires/aspirations. This is how Bricolage began: as a
group of families developing community and making change through collective empathy in action.
Josh thinks the most important changemaking comes from the stakeholders (students) themselves. At Bricolage, they try to give students as much ownership as possible. One example of this occurred at a recent “Wednesday Morning Meeting” of the whole school. The programming and content for these meetings is entirely student generated. For this mid-February meeting, two 2nd graders: Juana, an African-American girl living in poverty in the 7th Ward of New Orleans and Ysonde, a White girl from a middle class home living in Lakeview (a more affluent part of the city) came up with the idea to share stories of changemaking during the civil rights movement, lead the whole school community in a sing-a- long of “Glory” by John Legend & Common (from the movie Selma) and challenge their peers to make a difference in the world and in the school. All of this – all of it – was created, led and delivered by two students whose paths would have likely never crossed were it not for Bricolage. It was an act of courage, empathy and teamwork, and it was entirely student (stakeholder) owned. This is the kind of moment Josh had hoped for when he started Bricolage.