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Our Story

A Brief History of Design39Campus

Design39Campus was founded on a bold vision: to reimagine what school could be.

Before the campus opened in 2014, our founding principal, Sonya Wrisley, assembled a leadership team of five teachers (Megan Power, Bret Fitzpatrick, Kyle Asmus, Tom Downs, and Kelly Eveleth) who spent an entire year designing the school from the ground up. Together, they immersed themselves in research, gathered empathy, and explored innovative approaches to learning as they envisioned a new kind of educational experience.

Brief History

Our superintendent at the time, Dr. John Collins, gave the design team the freedom and trust to imagine something entirely new, a place where we could truly "do school differently." That opportunity challenged us to think beyond the conventions of traditional education and stretch our thinking in ways that would transform teaching and learning.

Rather than beginning with traditional assumptions about education, the team embraced the Design Thinking process. Community members, families, educators, and stakeholders participated in more than 30 empathy workshops, sharing their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for a school that would serve both children and the broader community. The insights gathered from these conversations were carefully analyzed, organized, and synthesized, becoming the foundation upon which Design39Campus was built.

Brief History

To expand their thinking and conduct research, the leadership team embarked on an Ed Journey to Northern California's Bay Area, where they visited innovative schools, organizations, and businesses known for their creative cultures and human-centered design. These experiences inspired new ideas and reinforced the belief that schools could be intentionally designed to cultivate creativity, collaboration, learner agency, and real-world problem solving.

Brief History

The team worked together to imagine new spaces and design the furniture that would best allow for a variety of instructional learning settings. When we couldn’t find the things we needed, the team went to work, prototyping different types of rolling carts, cubbies, and tables using cardboard. The goal was to only invest in items that were multiuse, easily movable, and would hold up for years to come. After much feedback, the final designs were developed by the Culver Newlin group and eventually purchased for all our classroom spaces.  Much of our current furniture on campus today (whiteboard tables, cubby carts, LED protector carts) was designed by the leadership design team.

Brief HistoryIn the spring of 2013, ten additional teachers joined the team. Together, they challenged nearly every aspect of the traditional school model while building the relationships and shared vision that would become the heart of Design39Campus.
 
Brief History

As part of this work, they developed a common language to reflect a new way of thinking about learning. A glossary of terms was created, replacing familiar school terminology with language that better represented the campus philosophy. For example, Physical Education became Minds in Motion, emphasizing the connection between physical activity, wellness, and learning. Today, many of these terms remain an important part of the Design39Campus culture and continue to help visitors understand our unique approach. (link to glossary)

When Design39Campus opened its doors in August of 2014, it was more than a new school, it was the realization of a community-driven vision centered on learner agency, innovation, collaboration, and the belief that education should continually evolve to better serve every learner. The school opened as a Kindergarten through 6th-grade campus and expanded in the following years to include 7th and then 8th grade.

Brief History

Today, Design39Campus serves more than 1,200 learners from Transitional Kindergarten through 8th grade. While much has evolved since those early design days, our commitment remains the same. We are fiercely passionate about creating meaningful learning experiences that inspire curiosity, foster creativity, and empower every learner to design their own future.

CONVERSATION WITH FOUNDING PRINCIPAL - SONYA WRISLEY

"Our classrooms are really the kids’ classrooms. They have the power."
 
Q.  Can you talk about how Design39Campus got its start?

 
A.  Sonya: I’ve been in this district for over 20 years and have been pushing to do something like Design39Campus — “out of the box stuff” — the whole time I’ve been here. My superintendent gave me latitude to gather a group of five educators together to take a year to collect ideas and imagine the possibilities of what D39C could be. We spent time developing a broad overall vision, while avoiding getting too deep in details. And, then, with this vision, we hired more educators to participate in the actual designing process. Together, we came up with Design39Campus, which opened in August 2014. 
 

Q.  It’s great to hear you talk about “LEDs” and “Deep Dives,” what does this change in vocabulary mean for you?

 
A.  Sonya: I once heard someone say, “In order to change what we do, we have to change the way we speak.” We think of our new terms/vocabulary as a shared language, and it’s an important part of getting everyone on the same page and changing the entire community’s mindset (see Parent Glossary). It challenges all of our assumptions. You can hear the shift in how we think about learners and learning in the new words. We know that, if we can get everyone on board with this shared language, it will become much easier to create buy-in for what we’re doing.
 
Another advantage of developing your own language is that you get to make distinctions and definitions. So, when we say that our school is based on “design thinking” and “collaboration,” those words and phrases are no longer abstract. We’ve defined them, and our community knows what we mean when we say them. Without that, people slip back into the old ways of thinking (and talking), and we’ve lost them. But, if we can get them thinking in our terms, a whole new world of possibilities opens up.
 

Q.  It is clear that the community’s support and buy-in is essential for you. What has it been like engaging everyone in this new way of thinking?

 
A.  Sonya: Well, first and foremost, the kids love it! They are definitely not in need of any convincing. But, it has certainly been a process to engage and connect with parents and community members. We know it’s vital to have their support, so we make it a priority. Parents want their kids to come here, and even still, they don’t quite understand what we’re doing all the time. So, we try to do things like developing the shared language and hosting public tours for visitors and parents. We also have a really robust FAQ section and our glossary on our website. There are difficulties, though, absolutely.
 
First off, our learners have a neighborhood school, and we’re a school of optional enrollment, so that leads to confusion. First year, we had 840 kids and had 2,000 students apply. And, out of that 840, we had 55 children leave. This is mainly because the parents wanted grades and competition or they weren’t sure what to make of what we do at Design39Campus. All that is to say that even with all the prep and outreach work, not everyone is comfortable with it.
But the hardest, most emotional work for us is the people who don’t understand us. The best thing we can do is take the Apple approach of “here’s what we offer” rather than PC approach of
“here’s why we’re better.” So, we try not to compare ourselves.
 

Q.  Of all the great and innovative things happening at Design39Cam;pus, what makes you proudest?

 
A.  Sonya: The thing that makes me most proud is watching our learners grow in their self-autonomy. Because of what we do, our kids don’t just ask about the who, what, and where, but they ask about the why. We’ve given our learners a lot more responsibility and autonomy over their education, and they’re going for it. They’re taking responsibility. They’re learning that ideas often fail—and more than once, in many cases—before they get to fly. Because of the flexibility of our design, learners are connecting globally and learning in ways that are centered far outside the classroom. It’s thrilling.