Alexis Burgess shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Good morning Alexis, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: Would YOU hire you? Why or why not?
Probably not. I wouldn’t want to work with me. We’d be too similar. Also I can be a little impulsive, abrasive, and hyper-focused on just the details I care about. But hey, I have a good resume. So if I didn’t know me I might take a chance on myself.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Five or six years ago I started an education nonprofit called Alcove Learning. Now based in Boyle Heights, we work with teens and tweens who aren’t thriving in traditional school, help them get out of the system, and then provide mentoring and elective classes to let them reconnect with who they are and what they really care about. We have need-blind admission and pay what you can tuition. Kids come to us instead of school to work on everything from philosophy to 3D animation to theater to environmental science. Alcove is committed to non-coercive education, so everything is optional, including attendance. It’s a safe space for general queer and neuroexpansive students. And a place to heal from school trauma and mental health challenges. A place to belong when belonging feels elusive.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
I was a validation junkie in my youth. My performance was always driven in large part by the desire for recognition and status. In other words: ego. At 45 I realize that’s not serving me anymore, if it ever did. However much you achieve, it’s never enough. These days I try to do things because they feel right, they help people, or they leverage my skills and pedigree for good. But I’m not chasing moral standing either. I’m too far behind in that game.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes. Many times. But last year there was a whole week when I thought we’d have to shudder the nonprofit because I couldn’t see how to make the budget work anymore. It had been a tough transition year. My co-founder had left, and I had taken a big step back, working mainly off site. There was a cascade of attrition as Alcove started to feel like a different place to the older kids. Luckily, we found the best possible Program Director, Bianca “B” Estrada to take the reins and right the ship. Enrollment leveled out in spring, and by the end of the semester, we were already starting to build back up. Now Alcove is healthy as ever, and it’s being run day to day by a Boyle Heights native.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
It’s ok for kids not to go to school. There are other ways to flourish. Kids need connection, adults who care about them, and access to opportunities for learning and doing. They can be so much wiser than we are about what, when, and how to learn. I don’t think autonomy is a panacea for the ills of traditional schooling. But if you can’t make meaningful, authentic choices about how your mind is growing, sooner or later you’ll get alienated from your native curiosity. But almost everybody is too scared to unschool. Like fish in water, it’s easy for us to miss the risks inherent in the status quo.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
I teach at a progressive school now, but Alcove seems anti-school. I don’t think there’s a paradox here. School works for some people. Even some unschoolers end up opting back in to school after they get space to figure out what they really want; not what society wants for them. They’re using the system deliberately (and usually getting better outcomes). But I do think a lot of school is inefficient, or filler. Too much top-down structure doesn’t serve anybody except teachers. Unschool is a way to preserve teacher sanity while simultaneously serving kids who need something radically different.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alcovelearning.org
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexis-burgess-b0b274182/
