As of Monday, I’ve taken up the CEO post of Everest Academy and Everest On-Line Learning Center (EOLC). A group of companies focused on helping youth excel at school while also achieving excellence at athletics and other high interest side endeavors.
Everest Academy is a new brand of private school built around our innovative S.E.L.F. (TM) program model:
S – Skills (Sports (hockey, golf, lacrosse, tennis, …), Music, Technology, etc)
E – Education (K-12 is primary focus)
L – Leadership (under emphasized in traditional school model)
F – Fitness (health, strength, flexibility, nutrition)
The intent is to open many schools over the next 10 years based on licensing the S.E.L.F(TM) program model. Early indications are the model is unique and would be attractive to many places around the world, wherever students are looking to excel at academics and high interest side endeavors — in an integrated fashion. The first Everest Academy, in its second year of operation, has quickly become recognized for its program excellence.
Everest On-Line Learning Center (EOLC) is a next generation implementation of on-line learning, targeting the Everest Academy style student who needs more flexibility to succeed in academics and side endeavors together. It combines the interests of the parent-student-teacher into an integrated learning system where all share in helping the student down the path to success. The first version is shortly ready to go for both internal use within a school environment (e.g. on-line course management, assignments, quizzes, shared calendaring, etc) as well as our first learning module centered on Grade 3 English and Math.
From an InsideSpin perspective, I now have to focus on some key startup challenges:
- Find the right group of early stage investors to back the initiative and help it realize its growth potential
- Find a core team to augment what is already in place who will thrive in early stage environments
- Solidify the business case that compels the target audience to buy
- Help establish an added value Board of Directors and Advisors
- Elevate the existing team to greater levels of performance and achievement
