Project Coach; Volunteer

DeKalb Brilliance Academy

Designed with input from nearly 1,000 South DeKalb community members, we are a tuition-free, public Kindergarten-8th grade South DeKalb charter school approved to enroll grades K-2 in 2022 (adding a grade each year). Our vision is that each child will know and leverage their unique brilliance to critically analyze the world around them and to design a better and more equitable future.

DeKalb Brilliance Academy: where the strength of our community nurtures the brilliance of our children.

Purpose of Real-World Project Partners:
To achieve our vision, our school empowers students to be leaders through combining rigorous & relevant academics with social-emotional learning. We put all of this together through semester-long real-world projects, where students learn not only from their teachers and peers, but also directly from scientists, lawyers, engineers, designers, entrepreneurs, etc.

Because our students learn not only from their teachers and peers, but also directly from scientists, lawyers, engineers, and designers, our students' relationships with not just their teachers, but also diverse community experts, will affirm that they can be leaders in any field they choose.

Because teachers partner with community experts to create semester-long projects that give students relevant experience connected to high-demand careers, our students will enter high school having worked with their peers to solve eighteen different complex projects in entrepreneurship, design, law, engineering, social justice, the arts, and more.

Because the same experts coach teams of students monthly and be in the audience to celebrate students' work at the end of the semester, our middle school students will have more experience collaborating with peers and presenting/receiving feedback on their ideas than most students entering college do.