Ashoka
The Nueva School curriculum is based around solving problems, especially social problems, and traditional academic subjects are taught in this context. Not only does Nueva Schoolhave a highly advanced curriculum in regards to Changemaker education, they are also actively sharing it out to other schools. Empathy is the cornerstone of both our the school’s Social Emotional Learning Program and their Design Thinking Program.
Nueva also puts a great emphasis on providing students with choice to pursue passions orareas that might grow into passions. Within academic classes, students often have theopportunity to choose a topic within a larger theme to research and explore. By doing this, Nueva foster students’ initiative and curiosity. At recess, Nueva adults staff many locationson campus, and students can freely move about, making choices each day at lunchtime.Since the inception of Nueva, hands-on learning has been an integral part of our theirapproach to learning.
The Nueva School has been recognized by the following awards and accomplishments over the course of its history:
- National School of Excellence Award: 1988, 1997.
- National Blue Ribbon Award from the US Department of Education: 1987-88,1996-97, and 2010.
- National Schools of Character: 2002.
- LEED Gold Award from the US Green Building Council: 2008.
- Honor Award for Energy and Sustainability from the California Council of theAmerican Institute of Architects: 2008.
- Hillside Learning Complex named a “Top Green Project” in the US: 2008
Kim Saxe
At a time when her peers were going to lifelong positions at IBM and other companies, Kim chose to join a start-up company, where she was quickly promoted each year until Kim was leading a team of engineers to create the new software products for the company. Kim did this by using the tenets of Design Thinking, by looking below the surface of what customers requested. Kim has used Design Thinking (formally known as Visual Thinking) in her personal and professional life since the mid-70’s. Kim is passionate about helping others maximize their innate talents through the use of Design Thinking: empathy, needs identification, research, creativity, and iterative refinement.
