Wichita, KS (October 12, 2023) – This week, Learning Lab Wichita, a collaborative hub and co-learning space centered on providing resources, community, and support to education entrepreneurs, celebrated the launch of construction on its new permanent location at Union Station in downtown Wichita.
The group kicked off a new era of education innovation with an interactive experience, where the community could immerse themselves in a virtual reality experience showcasing the future space, hear from leaders in the community, and engage with special guests making bold moves to transform education in Wichita.
"As we break ground, we empower education entrepreneurs to innovate models and ideas that provide families and learners space to create their own learning pathways," said Lydia Hampton, Operations Director of Learning Lab Wichita. "The Lab will offer an ecosystem to education entrepreneurs, providing resources, community, and support so they can advance innovative, personalized learning models and ideas. We encourage education entrepreneurs to reach out at golearninglab.org and connect with our team on how to engage or book space within the Lab."
Learning Lab is a hub of multiple individualized educational models where teachers, school leaders, education entrepreneurs, community leaders, and families can access this innovative space to launch and expand learning. The Lab's offerings and experiences will continue to evolve, and on any given day might include support for student-centered micro schools, bring together educators for professional development, or engage community groups in providing hands on, applied learning opportunities for learners.
"Learning Lab Wichita represents a unique option for families who are looking for alternative educational opportunities for their children," said Dr. Kaye Monk-Morgan, CEO and President of the Kansas Leadership Center. "Learning Lab will be a collaborative hub for educators to foster and scale school models and ideas responsive to our learners and their needs."
This project is supported by Stand Together community, in partnership with the Wichita community, to create a space dedicated to personalized approaches to education across K-12. The space will span nearly 16,000 square feet and will offer flexible learning spaces of varying sizes available for long-term leasing or on-demand booking with the capacity to host 220 learners and a wide array of innovative education organizations throughout Wichita.
"Wichita has an amazing group of people driving continual transformation for kids' education in this community, and I can't wait to see what we accomplish together through Learning Lab Wichita," said Chase Koch, founder and CEO of Koch Disruptive Technologies and founder of Stand Together Ventures. "Learning Lab and its partners are establishing what could be a model of co-learning spaces advancing innovative individualized learning for other communities and the country. If successful, people will be talking about Wichita as an education innovation hotbed."
###
About Learning Lab
Learning Lab is an education hub dedicated to transforming education by advancing student-driven learning models, pioneering innovative education solutions, and fostering community collaboration. As a collective of educational entrepreneurs, we recognize the transformative power and boundless potential of personalized learning. Learning Lab empowers families and learners to create their own learning pathways by building connections to education pioneers who are shaping personalized and groundbreaking approaches as unique as the learners they serve. Learn more at golearninglab.org.
About Stand Together Trust
Stand Together Trust is a grantmaking organization committed to supporting bottom-up solutions that empower people through the key institutions of society: business, communities, education, and government. We believe that the best solutions often come from those closest to the problems themselves. STT connects social entrepreneurs and policy innovators to resources that can accelerate our partners' progress. These resources may include funding, incubation, a community of likeminded individuals that share their vision, can collaborate with unique capabilities, and contribute to refining a product, research and subject base expertise, talent, marketing, and communications support. STT is a partner of Stand Together, a philanthropic community that tackles the root causes of our country's biggest problems. Alongside inspiring partners, we drive solutions on education, economic opportunity, health care, bridging partisan divides, and dozens of other pressing issues. To learn more about Stand Together Trust and the entire Stand Together community, visit StandTogether.org.
