Spotlight June & Bobby George

Spotlights

It’s been 10 years. This is the 10th Fall Baan Dek has welcomed Students, the 10th time we’ve scrubbed and prepped and searched, the 10th time we’ve brainstormed and conversed and made this year, the best year yet.

Baan Dek would not be without our leaders, June and Bobby George. What started out as a mere seed of a dream has grown into a strong vision, and yet, it’s only the beginning. We sat down with these two to ask a few questions. In their truest fashion, they wanted to write their answers, to have an opportunity to reflect and collaborate and improve; the very qualities at the core of Baan Dek.

We’re so excited to share with you a little story of where Baan Dek came from, from the very hearts of the couple who made it happen.

Q: Rewind 10 years — would you do it all again??

We’re not sure there’s much we would have done differently. Starting slow was really a blessing. It didn’t feel like it at the time, but in retrospect, it really allowed us the opportunity to establish a strong foundation, to learn from each other and the families we were fortunate enough to serve.

Q: Why did you start a school?

This is a really important question. Our desire to start a school was born out of necessity. So much of what we do is based on intuition, and we just felt that the community needed a personalized approach to learning, especially for early childhood education.

One day, we woke up, and just decided to do it.

Looking back, we weren’t prepared. Of course, we did our homework, and researched the local market, and created an identity, but it was all a bit willy-nilly. Basically, we just followed our passions, which, we think if we were hard pressed, would be the same today as it was then: doing everything we can to offer an individualized learning for each and every child.

Q: What challenges did you face early on?

There were two real challenges we faced when we first started Baan Dek.

The first one was enrollment. We started our first year with three students and by the end of the year we had six. From one perspective, we increased our enrollment two-fold, but from another perspective, we only had six students. Money has never been a motivating factor for what we do, but there came a point when we were concerned about the credit card debt that we had accumulated. You see, instead of being smart and savvy business people, taking out a loan from a bank, we just decided we would cut through the red tape and do it ourselves. Besides, we said, the bank probably wouldn’t even give us a loan. We literally put an entire classroom of materials and supplies and furniture and everything else you can think of, on a series of credit cards. When we only had six students, and has spent a year on the ramen noodle diet, we started to wonder if we’d chosen the right profession.

Our second real challenge, which was directly related to the first, was educating the community on what an authentic Montessori program was, what it offered, how it was different from daycare, etc. This proved, not so much difficult, as time consuming. Whereas we have a tendency to want to go from zero to sixty in two seconds, this took a few years. Actually, it’s probably still ongoing. Also, somewhere in the middle, we finally sat down with our local bank, First National Bank Sioux Falls, and they helped guide us through the process of building our own building, providing the support and reassurance that only they were equipped to provide.

Q: Were there unexpected joys?

The most unexpected joy was actually the one we expected the most – working together. We’d always heard rumors about how hard it was for couples to work together, how impatient or intolerant you would become, but we fell right into the routine, not missing a beat, and enjoying just about every, single, moment. It remains one of the greatest joys of our lives, always diligently, positively and happily working towards staying on the same page with everything we do.

Q: What was it like working in a classroom together?

This will depend upon who you ask. :)

Q: Have things changed in the last 10 years? Are children different? Are you different?

We’ve become more easy going over these past few years. Which is not to say complacent, or lackadaisical, or lacking attention. On the contrary. When it’s your baby, you need to feel like you have complete autonomy or control over how it develops. At least that’s how we originally thought about growing Baan Dek. Over the years, however, we wouldn’t say that we’ve let our guard down, so much as we’ve started to more completely trust the people and the environment that we’ve surrounded ourselves with. It’s no small task getting everyone on the same page, but we’re fortunate to work with some amazing individuals. People who truly want to make a difference.

Q: What would you say to someone wanting to start a school today?

I think it would be pretty simple. “Do it.” We would then add the caveat that “make sure your motivations are pure”. If you want to start a school to become wealthy, we’d recommend that you do something else, otherwise, somewhere along the way, you’ll compromise your values. Our only other inspiration would be: children will inspire you and push you like no one ever has, and be ready for the warmth and humility that comes from those wonderful exchanges.

Q: What dreams do you have for the next 10 years?

We keep going back and forth about our next steps with Baan Dek. On the one hand, we want to grow and share all of the amazing things we feel like we’ve discovered. This includes other locations, in other cities, and perhaps even other countries. On the other hand, we love the quality we are able to consistently keep at our current size. We oscillate between these two perspectives, and we’ll probably end up somewhere in between. But, that’s not the romantic vision, that’s more of the practical one. Our dreams are to inspire an entirely new generation of students to embark upon the world, fearlessly, collaboratively, and courageously equipped to stand up against injustice, and push forward and innovate to make the world a better place.

Q: How has working together affected your relationship?

It’s strengthened it, beyond measure, but we think it was already strengthened from the start.

Q: Do you have a favorite memory?

There are so many. So many inspirational stories. So many lovely moments. Most of them – nay, probably all of them – are filled with great humor and humility. Great, big, giant laughter, and deep, serious, loving memories.

Here’s one of our personal favorites: one of our very first students was working on a puzzle. It happened to be a puzzle of a duck. He came up to us one afternoon, after putting the work away, and said something like this, “I understand this is a duck, and this duck has a mother, but where did his mother’s mother come from? And her mother’s mother?” He was three years old, and he was asking the deepest ontological question know to humankind. We were totally blown away. We glimpsed, in that very moment, how we must treat children with the seriousness with which they treat themselves. How we need to meet their sense that nothing is impossible, with open minds and open hearts. Oh, how important it is to keep children’s curiosity supported.

Q: What would you change?

Absolutely nothing.

There’s an amazing quote from Christopher Alexander, that might sum up how we feel about Baan Dek, and how we wouldn’t change anything that doesn’t need to be changed:

“Suppose that I am trying to make a table for the blackbirds in my garden. In winter, when the snow is on the ground, and the blackbirds are short of food, I will put food out for them on the table. So I build the table; and dream about the clusters of blackbirds which will come flocking to the table in the snow.

“Oh, how important it is to keep children’s curiosity supported.”

But it is not so easy to build a table that will really work. The birds follow their own laws; and if I don’t understand them, they just won’t come. If I put the table too low, the birds won’t fly down to it, because they don’t like to swoop too close to the ground. If it is too high in the air, or too exposed, the wind won’t let them settle on it. If it is near a laundry line, blowing in the wind, they will be frightened by the moving line. Most of the places where I put the table actually don’t work.

I slowly learn that blackbirds have a million subtle forces guiding them in their behavior. If I don’t understand these forces, there is simply nothing I can do to make the table come to life. So long as the placing of the table is inexact, my image of the blackbirds flocked around the table eating, is just wishful thinking. To make the table live, I must take these forces seriously, and place the table in a position which is perfectly exact.”

With that in mind, we’re always looking for ways to improve, to make the table, or in this case, the school live.

To hear a bit of the story of how this all got started, watch this video!