While many of us are trying to end the school year preparing report cards, planning graduations, figuring out contingency plans, budgeting, and envisioning scenarios for a virtual, blended, hybrid, or in-person learning model for the start of the school year, at InterAmerican Academy in Guayaquil, we are also setting up a new parallel, online school: eIAA. To confront the current crisis and be ready for future challenges we need to reinvent ourselves, prototype and test ideas, be agile, and have a vision. This awareness and urgency sparked the idea to establish eIAA. Our headmaster and our school board realized there would never be a right time or perfect conditions to pursue this vision. They decided to take a risk now and move forward with the eIAA project. A school as small as ours can only make such a vision a reality with the support and effort of our most precious resources: our teachers and staff. There was an immediate call for help, committees emerged, and we started working at full speed. All while tending to our full time jobs and daily class commitments. Whether serving on a committee (marketing, admissions, curriculum, training, logistics, IT) or taking charge of the summer sessions while others make sure eIAA is ready to open in August, every single person at our school is involved in the effort. Witnessing the selfless commitment of our team has been humbling. eIAA has already attracted new local and international students. eIAA opens a new opportunity for our school and an option for students in Guayaquil and the world, regardless of their location. It is at times like this when challenges turn into opportunities for creative and sustainable alternatives. Read the full article