Will Szal

*Originally posted on www.eduventurist.org

Will Szal grew up attending alternative schools that encouraged experiential learning, including one that his family helped to found in rural Massachusetts. Although many of his family members had attended college, he discovered that he “really didn’t like the idea of college, once I found out what it was. I felt it was very pre-emptive in that pretty much everyone I knew who had gone to college wasn’t doing what their degree had prepared them for. When I asked them what they learned at college, there were a lot of skills that they learned that were helpful. But the knowledge that they gained, which is such a large part of the emphasis in higher ed, was not relevant to the field they ended up going into, or the field had changed so much while they were in school that it was kind of irrelevant."

When Will graduated high school, he decided to delay college and spent a year at the Farm School, where people of all ages come to learn how to farm by actually doing it while also taking courses in skills like marketing, business plan creation, carpentry, welding, and homesteading. "One of the biggest things I learned was how to interact peer-to-peer with people much older than me. That was a very helpful experience for me."

Thanks to his experience at Farm School, when Will ended up deciding to attend and study systems engineering at UMass Amherst the following year, "I could feel a lot more assertive in my ideas outside of my coursework." However, he remained skeptical of the more traditional higher education system he was entering. It was at UMass that Will started connecting with other students interested in entrepreneurship and local food systems, two of his main interests. “The reason I was involved in entrepreneurialism is that I was noticing that business and economics is the primary way that people collaborate with each other, and its one of the ways that our society works to get cultural frameworks moving.” Outside of school, he participated in StartingBloc's Institute of Social Innovation and was able to find a community of other entrepreneurial people. While he found some formal schooling helpful, Will did not enjoy the emphasis that his traditional classes placed on testing, and the lack of project-based learning.

Will then met an advisor from Gaia University while attending a conference in Vermont. Gaia U is a school that allows for self-designed learning pathways. “Gaia’s structure is so that we have associates and advisors as opposed to students and professors," he says, "The curriculum is whatever you are doing in your life and the advisors support you in getting the most out of your learning process.” These advisors are not usually actually providing content, but “the frameworks and models to process content” that students seek out through other sources that are relevant to their learning path. “I decided to join Gaia at that point because it allowed me to work fulltime on my projects as part of my learning process,” and he titled his course of study “cross-cultural translation.” He was able to collaborate in-person with many other Gaia associates and advisors at gatherings held at various Gaia bases around the US.

Socially, Will comments that "Actually, my one year in traditional higher ed was my most challenging year socially - I just couldn't seem to connect with any of my 'peers.' I make friends through my projects - and as my projects all have values attached to them, they're like a selection process for increasing the likelihood of finding people that I'm compatible with." He has found that social networks have also been helpful in maintaining his relationships with others.

Will spent two years at Gaia, but recently withdrew from the program. He found his time there very helpful, but has determined that his needs are now different. He’s also consciously showing opposition to the wider accreditation system used in our society. “The primary frameworks that determine when you are ready to graduate are informed by our accreditors rather than the individual needs of the associate or by the knowledge from the community of that associate’s competence." However, although Will has found that having a degree isn't relevant for what he wishes to do in the future, he does think that having a degree at this point in time would be relevant for others with different goals. Additionally, even though he is officially un-enrolled, Will still continues to collaborate in many ways with the Gaia community.

Will recently spent two weeks on a solo retreat in Colorado in order to further plan out his path and determine how he can align the way in which he lives he life with his values. He spent time blogging in depth on his reflections, and in the end came up with a mission statement for what he ultimately wants to be doing with what he is learning. He explains that his goal is to help shift the nature of money to something that is more community oriented by working with new and old paradigm leadership and supporting them in their self care and personal development, rather than trying to directly influence their decisions. Taking this intentional private time to sort out his goals on an unchartered path was very helpful and recommendable to other DIY learners.

Will has also made use of a wide variety of mentors along his journey. "I find mentors through collaboration," he explains. "When I start working on a new project I get to meet new people that always have skills or qualities that I'd like to develop further in myself. Mentors are helpful for me because they challenge me to look at things from new perspectives or to new depths."

Will is working in Vermont this summer with a group on local food systems, new economic models, and supporting entrepreneurialism in the region. As Will writes on his blog, “I’m very happy to say that I’m officially joining the ranks of college drop-outs. At least in my niche, they’re an uncommonly motivated bunch."