Meet Richard Strauss of Spirit Series in West LA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Strauss.

Richard, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
SPIRIT SERIES began out of personal tragedy. When my daughter was 10, we lost her Mom to cancer. So as a young girl, she began to ask the biggest questions in life, like “why do bad things happen to good people?” I was a professional screenwriter at the time, did not write for children and had no intention of working with young people. But I found nothing in my daughter’s life designed to help her meet this kind of hardship and adversity. I knew that stories can inspire, and was haunted by a question: could the lives of history’s greatest heroes—their challenges and triumphs–inspire kids on their journey to young adulthood? Could these stories be told as inspirational one-act plays that students study, co-write, stage and perform? When I finally realized that I could write these plays for young adults rather than children, I knew I had to give it a go.

I had so much to learn: I had never been a teacher, had never run a business, knew nothing about the inner workings of public education or fundraising. Fortunately, seven years after our family tragedy, I met Leslie, who almost instantly became my best friend, and later my wife as well as business partner. Together we’ve built our non-profit organization, which has now served more than 50,000 students from California to Maine.

The SERIES has grown entirely from word of mouth. We would not be here today if it weren’t for the many educators and parents who have recommended us to colleagues and friends. As a non-profit, the generosity of foundations and hundreds of individual donors, a great many of them in the Los Angeles area, has been absolutely crucial to our survival and growth. We feel this support every day and are filled with gratitude to everyone in the SPIRIT SERIES family for making our work possible these past 20 years.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The journey has been anything but smooth! Like any small business, we have payroll to meet, “customers” to please (our partner schools), and new challenges always coming our way. There have been many moments when we almost gave up, but somehow, each time, a solution presented itself and we were able to carry on. Because we began as a parent initiative, asking to deliver our program in history and English classes right during regular school hours, we really had to prove our worth and gain some measure of legitimacy. The seal of approval from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities has helped quite a bit.

Meanwhile, the Great Recession devastated our income from 2008-11 and we had a waiting list of over 50 schools in L.A. who wanted SPIRIT SERIES but were simply unable to pay anything at all for our services. Thanks to our donors, we survived.

Still, no challenge could compare with the current pandemic. Imagine a high-touch drama- based On Stage program faced, in mid-March, with school closures and 100% distance learning. Our spring schedule had to be canceled. But, thanks to the creativity of our team, we now deliver the program on Zoom–SPIRIT SERIES On Screen—with an impact that rivals anything we’ve seen in years past.

Please tell us about Spirit Series.
We provide a transformative, whole child experience for our partner schools in grades four through eight. The SERIES is a mix of academic and social-emotional learning, building character, promoting positive core values, self-reflection, authentic literacy, multicultural appreciation, and personal empowerment. That study from Harvard concluded: “An analysis of potentially similar programs [nationwide] found not a single one with the same aims and methods, making SPIRIT SERIES a standout.”

If what we offer is unique, perhaps it’s because I started as a parent rather than a trained educator and realized that, first and foremost, we need to tend to the spirit of our kids. I have the highest regard for the thousands of teaching professionals we’ve met over the years—they have some of the toughest jobs in our society. The system they operate in, however, does not have the proper priorities, in our view. Think about the teachers and mentors who had the biggest impact on you. Years later, we don’t remember what they taught us, so much as how they taught us and who they were.

The heroes we celebrate in the SERIES model moral character and it takes character from the students to meet the SPIRIT SERIES challenge. These plays are difficult, they only have 15 hours, over three short weeks, to prepare to perform them in front of teachers, families and peers. The stakes are high. And it is so fulfilling to see them, time after time, strive for academic excellence, forge a positive vision for themselves, and begin to become their own heroes.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
One can’t plan on luck. Having said that, there is no doubt that we’ve been very fortunate. Our partner in New England—without whom we would not be here today– came to us because a mutual friend mistakenly wrote me looking for advice on a real estate deal. I happened to have the same first name and last initial as the person he meant to contact, and that errant email made all the difference in the life of our program!

We could tell dozens of similar stories—including the way in which Leslie and I met—all of which highlight for us a certain “mystery” in life. One thing that isn’t so mysterious, though, is positive growth mindset: turning challenges into opportunity. No matter what may happen, we believe one always has a choice: do we feel sorry for ourselves or are we willing to look for the “gift” in any circumstance. It isn’t always easy to adopt this positive approach, but we find that life is a lot more fulfilling and successful when we do!

Contact Info:

• Website: spiritseries.org
• Phone: 3104332644
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @spiritseriesusa
• Facebook: facebook.com/SpiritSeriesusa

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