WEBVTT - I Wonder If I’m Growing 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:06.600 It's sort of a one room school. A dozen children 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:10.160 aged eight through fourteen come here Monday through Thursday to 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:13.760 share education with Cameron. The bottom line for me is 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:19.760 that all children are geniuses, are natural naturally wise initially, 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:26.040 and I think that children to varying degrees get restricted 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:34.080 and damaged by the way they get treated. Like Raffie. 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:38.239 Brent Cameron also had a vision, one that centered entirely 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:43.520 around his daughter, Atlanta. I'm Atlanta Cameron, and I'm Brent 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.920 and Maureen Cameron's daughter. I was the kid that said 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.879 I don't like school, it's not working for me, and uh, 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:54.960 I thought it was extraordinary that they said, Okay, let's 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:59.160 do something about that. Atlanta Cameron was put at the 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:03.320 center of everything her parents did. They sacrificed a lot 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:07.360 to give her the perfect childhood, or rather their version 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:10.959 of the perfect childhood. My dad mentioned that he was 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.240 really scared to have a kid and actually hadn't thought 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:18.959 he wanted kids because he'd been so terribly lonely in 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:23.520 his childhood. There wasn't a lot of communication or discussion 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:26.480 or not no talking about feelings. So it was an 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:31.160 epiphany for him to have a child and realize he 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:35.480 could do it differently. This episode is about what happens 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:39.119 when parents do everything possible to create the ideal environment 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:43.440 for their child. It's like Raphie's child honoring philosophy come 0:01:43.480 --> 0:01:52.800 to life, but does it work. I'm Chris Garcia and 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:55.760 this is Finding Raffie, a ten part series from My 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.840 Heart Radio and Fatherly in partnership with Rococo Punch, about 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:04.000 the life, philosophy, and the work of Raffie, the man 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:12.760 behind the music. It was the early nineties when Raffie 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.480 came across the Cameron family story across the front of 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.840 the magazine. Read the headline a new model and Education, 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:24.160 and Atlanta Cameron was the future story. Her article would 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:27.920 inspire Raffie. It would begin to lay the foundation for 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:32.080 his child honoring work. But today's story begins almost a 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:40.519 decade earlier. So let me set the scene. If you 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:45.280 had walked in, you would have walked into a sixteen 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:49.680 foot geodesic dome which was perched down on the lake. 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:55.880 We had a fireplace going, we had two midwives there, 0:02:56.680 --> 0:03:02.240 and yeah, we had a home birth. Wait no, not 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:07.720 that far back. Fast forward a few years tone before 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.120 Atlanta was featured in any news stories. She said something 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:13.680 to her parents that any six year old might say, 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:16.720 I don't like school. And I think that's a pretty 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.040 normal thing for kids to say if they're shy or 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:22.480 it's just not feeling right for them. They toured me around, 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:25.440 tried out different places, and I just said, I don't 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:27.600 like it. I can't. I just I don't like it. 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.720 Why can't I just keep learning from you? Remember she's six. 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.800 And then my dad said, okay, well I'll quit my 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:40.320 job and I'll start a school. It's too bad Brent 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:43.040 wasn't here that we could talk more about this. That's 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:47.760 Maureen Cameron, Atlanta's mom. Brent Cameron, Atlanta's dad passed away 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.240 from cancer in two thousand and twelve, which is why 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:52.720 you won't hear from him today. But he had a 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.080 big impact on the people he met along the way. 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:59.280 He looked like the epitome of a hippie, six ft 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:06.600 something other, big, huge hair coveralls. He was very charismatic, 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:11.880 a very strong personality. I was exciting to be with him, 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.400 like everything was going to be an adventure, you know, 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.080 because there weren't that many rules. It was all explore 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:26.080 this explore that the family relocated to Vancouver, from a 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:28.920 rural part of British Columbia. After a recession shut down 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:31.440 their small health food store, they moved to the city 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.880 to find work and eventually to open a school geared 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:41.040 specifically towards Atlanta called Wonder Tree. So I've been listed 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:45.640 as the co founder, but I always said it was 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:50.560 more extraordinary that that they started it. As crazy as 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:53.440 it sounds like, it seems like the bigger choice, but 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:56.880 my dad had been a teacher in different kinds of 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:00.080 schools already, so he could. He knew that there his 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.640 ways to do it. So I think I was that 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.320 spark that said like, hey, I'm interested in something different. 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:08.719 He's like, I know how to do something different, and 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.160 and I have the skills and the knowledge and the passion. 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:20.080 Let's go for it. He would call newspapers and say, hey, 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:22.840 I'm gonna have a school. I'm starting, and everyone loved 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.159 it until they asked how many students, and when he 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.800 said my daughter and that's it, the parents would go 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:34.680 I'll wait. Finally, one brave parent enrolled their child in 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.400 Wonder Treat and the Cameron's learning experiment was off and running. 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:43.200 Soon the school was at capacity, that is, twelve students, 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.120 which is what Brent determined to be the perfect size. 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:49.680 We didn't have funding in the beginning, and he didn't 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.560 want to charge very much for people to come so 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.239 that people could afford it. I remember that we would 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.960 go behind office supply companies and would go to their 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.920 dumpster full of paper that they were just throwing out, 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:06.239 and so that's how we got our paper for the school. 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:09.560 At first, my dad used to say, we're rich, and 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.560 I'd say what, And I'd get so excited. I'm like, 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:14.320 oh my god, we're rich. And he'd be like, because 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:18.400 we have each other, and I'd go but like, it 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:20.520 chokes me up thinking about it now because I don't 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:27.360 have him anymore. He just saw that so much of 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:31.240 what was going on our society started when we're young, 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.520 when we're kids, and if we're not seen as whole humans, 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:37.760 if we're just seen as you know, that this industrialized 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.520 model of schooling kind of being in parallel with the 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:45.240 industrialization of our society. Right. We didn't always go to school, 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.120 and it's become such a gospel that you you go 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:50.120 to school and this is the only way to learn 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:53.600 is if you can't learn outside of school. So we 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:57.240 left the classroom and did real world projects as much 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:02.520 as possible, because it's really important to understand quote unquote 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:04.960 the real world and not just live in a little 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:09.320 school bubble. Right. The kids made all of the decisions. 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.440 They got to decide what to spend tuition money on, 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.800 meaning they chose who they wanted to hire and what 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:19.440 they wanted to learn. Like clowning. They hired an expert 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.080 clown for that. But they also did things that were 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:24.960 pretty incredible, like learn how to code before that was 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.240 even a thing kids did so I don't know, if 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.680 you know the old school max they were like a 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:34.080 screen and everything. So the carrying case was about, you know, 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:38.600 I don't know, three ft by four ft and very heavy. 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:42.960 Kids would carry those home for the weekend and bring 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:48.200 their computer home as if they were portable. They got 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.440 so good at computers that a local power company hired 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.800 them to make a computer program for their business and 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.720 paid them a lot of money. They got paid was 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:04.760 it fifty third thousand fifty dollars? He was very interested 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:09.880 in taking away labels and really meeting children where they 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:14.520 were and saying, how can I help you learn and 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:18.640 be the best you. Meanwhile, the Cameron's juggled a lot 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:22.520 to see Prince Vision through the school, finances, the press, 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:27.280 parenting workshops, community potlocks. Plus Maureen was also working full 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.280 time as a nurse to keep the family afloat. But 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:32.280 then she had a bad car accident and had to 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.280 find another source of income, so they opened a home 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:38.640 schooling branch of Wonder Tree, which Maureen ran. It was 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:43.760 seven practically, I mean not entirely, but we kind of 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:47.400 were living, breathing and eating it. It was all consuming, 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.719 for sure, for my parents to run this school. And 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:55.120 so I remember going to bed listening to them working 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.280 in the office across the hall. For me waking up 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:02.839 and they were working. I became very independent because they 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:05.880 were too busy working away, and so I'd be like, 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.760 oh well, and then I just figure it out. He 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:13.559 would mythologize things about me because I was part of 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:17.920 the school that he was promoting and talking about. So yeah, 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:22.320 I became a mythology and and this thing. For instance, 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:24.840 Atlanta says she didn't learn how to read until she 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.800 was nine, and Brent would put his own spin on 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:31.760 her story. He sometimes claimed she was eleven. It was 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.839 his way of embellishing the school's narrative that kids learning 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.920 should be self directed. He had a habit of doing 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.800 things like that. He would be very good at underestimating 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:58.840 some things and overdoing so, as all good storytellers to. Yeah. Yeah. 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:03.920 The pressure that I felt was to turn out well. 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:08.160 I was the first example of the school of this 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.800 learning model, and so I better turn out well so 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:15.520 that I can show, yes, my parents did this crazy thing. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:22.080 They sacrifice so much financially, emotionally, whatever they've sacrificed so 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.320 much made this amazing thing. And oh boy, I better 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:30.480 turn out well because I'm the one. It's like, you know, 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:33.960 I'm the one as an example of Look, I turned 0:10:34.000 --> 0:11:06.640 out like this, so that means it works. Eventually, the 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:08.959 pressure of all the hours of work took a toll 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:12.880 on the Camerons. After ten years, Brent walked away from 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:17.240 Wonder Tree. At this point, Atlanta was fifteen. My dad 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:20.160 could see that I was a teenager and could use 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:25.079 some community, and he needed a break and just needed 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.720 a little pause. So Hi homeschooled for a couple of years. 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:33.520 It was a bit lonely, um and sometimes I wonder like, oh, 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:35.960 should I have gone to normal school just to try it? 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:38.480 Out or what would have that been like, but he 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:42.440 still had so much passion for running an independent school. 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.880 After a brief hiatus, Brent started another school and once 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.400 again Atlanta was at the center of it. Yeah, to 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:55.360 be the wonder child is what people would often say. 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.880 I would just go, Okay, I have some understanding what 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:01.840 it must be like to be famous, because you get 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:04.599 this identity that's like kind of outside of who you 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:08.840 are that people are responding to today. We continue our 0:12:08.960 --> 0:12:11.880 education series with a profile of a Vancouver school so 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:15.360 innovative it isn't even called a school. My name's Alanna 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:19.760 Cameron and I've been here for about a year and 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.960 a half. I think that maybe more who knows. And 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.760 the reason I'm here is I helped create it. They 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:32.079 called it Virtual High Virtual because it was originally supposed 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:34.960 to be all online. It would be like a wonder 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:39.360 Tree for teenagers. The virtual part didn't last long though. 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.480 We got a house, this large mansion house that like 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:46.080 had lots of floors and rooms, but the idea was 0:12:46.280 --> 0:12:48.880 it could be a meeting place. Well, we ended up 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.520 going there every day, Like I think almost everyone came 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:55.240 every day because it was just so exciting to learn 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:59.240 in person and have mentors and be social together. Like 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:03.160 at Wondered. The students ran everything and they loved being 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:07.760 there so much they slept over by choice. They hired 0:13:07.800 --> 0:13:11.680 a mom to chaperone. Meanwhile, people from all over, from 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:16.080 academics to celebrities, came to visit this ramshackle mansion run 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:24.520 by teenagers. My dad had this great idea of giving 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:29.000 out awards of excellence to people we thought were doing 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:34.200 exceptional things in the world. So Linus Pauling, Jane Goodall, 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:39.040 Boba Tundla Tunji. So we got to go to their 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:45.480 talks and then go backstage and have a chat and say, hey, 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:49.840 we think you're excellent. We run this crazy school, and 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:52.120 we're giving you an award from our crazy school. And 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:58.280 so Michael Moore actually came after a documentary premier. Now 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:02.720 'am Chomsky. Now I'm chomps Chomsky as well. Yeah, I know, 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:09.040 so fun. Gnome Chomsky, the father of modern linguistics and 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:12.760 the whole nature versus nurture argument. He had to check 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:21.000 out Virtual High. I think a lot of people were 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:24.240 fascinated about what was going on. I think it gave 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:27.880 people some kind of a wow. This is a possibility, 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:31.920 it's a potential. There's something interesting going on here, and 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:35.520 I want to be part of it. The school also 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:38.800 had weekly coffee houses, kind of like an open mic 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:43.080 for students and their families, and one night Raphie showed up, 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:47.080 going to take a walk outside today. I'm going to 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.000 see what I can find today. Going to take a 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.000 walk outside today. I'm going to see what I can 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:57.720 find today. It was like four year old part of 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:04.000 me that kept saying, it's fee you know, like I 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:06.160 was like there's a little bit of a fan inside 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:09.720 of me at all times. But on the outside I 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.200 was a fifteen sixteen year old saying, oh, it's so 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:16.400 nice to meet you and um, and also so exciting 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.040 that he to see that he truly cares about children, 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:25.240 that it wasn't an act. I remember being fascinated with 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:28.520 virtual high and the whole idea of learning by a 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:32.360 stuff design, you know, on the half of students. So 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:34.760 I hung up. I went over there and you know, 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.840 kind of soaked up the vibe and talk to people. 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:44.200 You know. I was just amazed that they trusted the 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:49.960 learning process, they trusted life, they trusted their daughters, creative 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:54.920 response to a situation and not many people would be 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.440 able to do what they did, but they chose that. 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:02.160 And I was intrigued by the outside today, gonna see 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:05.000 what I can find today. I'm gonna take a walk 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:12.720 outside today. I'm gonna see what I can find. I 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:17.160 think he and brent recognized something in each other. Maybe 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:22.520 maybe it was that shared desire to contribute to the world. 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:28.600 My dad just felt very lonely most of his childhood. Yeah, 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:33.400 if you've watched Madman and and That, when you see 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:36.080 the main character go home and pat his kids on 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:38.680 the head as he walks by them and goes to 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:41.560 get the newspaper and a drink, like seeing that show 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:45.360 really hit home for me because I realized, Oh, that's 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:50.960 what he meant, this non emotionally available experience. So I 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:53.840 think that's why he liked saying I was a co founder, 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.360 because for him I was that inspiration to go, Wow, 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:00.560 it can be done so differently. It can be done 0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:04.040 with heart, it can be done with caring, and there's 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:09.480 another way to do this. After a bit, Paradise got 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.160 a little lost. Brenton Maureen ended up getting a divorce, 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:16.439 but Brenton Atlanta continued to share a house and a 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:20.280 life together because you'd moved out and I had you 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:22.440 moved out of our house and I stayed there, so 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.480 because everything in that house represented a kind of a 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:29.800 center point of of what was going on with the 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:34.480 move from Wonder Tree to Virtual High. So it's definitely 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:40.399 a little confusing. Meanwhile, the school was being run on 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:45.080 a shoestring budget and things were starting to unravel. I 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.120 think there started being a bit of a slippery slope 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:51.280 after all the years. I mean, the parents loved him, 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:55.960 but it's because of my mother that they stayed. We 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:58.800 had some parents leave because they felt like, oh my god, 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:01.560 my kids aren't following a curriculum. How are they going 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:05.879 to be successful in the world. This is crazy. And 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:07.960 he would just be like, too bad, That's what I'm doing. 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.720 And my mom would soften it and try to bring 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.320 people in and sometimes that worked, and sometimes people would 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:18.000 leave because they thought it was just too far out 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:33.280 there and they'd get scared. We're flying by the seat 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:35.880 of our pants. We were not an official school, so 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:39.480 we had to charge tuition for our program, and we 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:44.320 charged pretty much a base rate tuition that just allowed 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:48.320 us to scrape by. This is Michael Maser. We weren't 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.080 in it to get rich or to be an elite 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:55.600 prep school for teenagers. Michael co founded Virtual High with 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.720 Brent and he was in the trenches for what happened next. 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:02.679 Michael said, as the school initially had support through British 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:07.359 Columbia's Ministry of Education. We tried our our hardest to 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:12.640 garner that ministry support and they offered it and then 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:18.000 took it away, and that left us really flat and demoralized. 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:22.160 Raffie even donated money to try and help. He sang 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:26.800 it a benefit concert for the school, but it wasn't enough. Ultimately, 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.880 Virtual High didn't make it, and so you can imagine 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:34.560 my disappointment when we did have to fold it because 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:40.680 we couldn't seal support from the education ministry despite many 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:45.600 people's endorsement of what of what we were doing. After 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:51.000 only three years, Virtual High shut down. Ultimately it came 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.160 down to a lack of funding, or maybe people got 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.800 spooked that the students were running the show instead of 0:19:56.800 --> 0:20:01.120 sitting at their desks taking tests. Either way, it closed 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:05.240 before the world could really see if this experiment worked. Yeah, 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:08.719 it was definitely sad and felt like untethered in a way. 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:12.000 It was like suddenly all the strings were cut and 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.480 then we were all just left to our own devices. 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:17.920 It was a community and it had this beating heart, 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:21.560 and so once the physical place was gone, it was 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:25.119 hard to recreate that feeling for sure, because we have 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:29.800 this shared experience that's really hard to explain two people 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:34.480 that weren't there. There's this deep connection that just stays. Brent, 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.280 on the other hand, wasn't willing to walk away from 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:41.399 his vision. He moved virtual high online and kept at it, 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:46.360 and that's what he was doing until he passed away. 0:20:55.760 --> 0:21:00.240 He did mention when he was in the hospital before 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:04.480 he passed away that he regretted not having a little 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:07.720 more time with me and knowing that he missed out 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:11.720 on some things because he was so focus, so focused 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:15.760 on his work. He wasn't a normal dad. He had 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.600 all the kids in the school where his children in 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:30.399 some ways like he was available for everyone. After everything ended, 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:34.760 Atlanta backpacked through Nepal, but eventually she enrolled in music 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:37.280 college and that was kind of nice for her to 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:43.080 try out a place with structure. Then Atlanta found herself 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:46.399 back in Creston, British Columbia, the small town where she 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:49.920 was born She now owns and runs a coffee roastery. 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:54.359 It's called Lark Coffee Roasters, inspired by the saying on 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:57.560 a lark to do something just for the fun of it. 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:05.879 That's important to me that whatever I do is because 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:10.880 of the joined enthusiasm, and that definitely stems directly from 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:12.399 going to the kind of school that I went to, 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:15.840 and I miss it. That's one thing like I'm coming 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:19.520 to terms with is that that it was such a 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:27.399 rich experience of community, and that sometimes I forget the 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:29.600 loss of that, that I don't have that in my 0:22:29.640 --> 0:22:35.080 life in the same way since then, just feeling seen 0:22:35.200 --> 0:22:37.919 and heard and held by a group of people is 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:40.679 such a good experience. So I guess I'm coming to 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:44.800 terms with the fact that the world is not as 0:22:44.920 --> 0:22:49.600 safe and beautiful as that experience was. It's a little harsher. 0:22:50.400 --> 0:22:53.120 I mean, the world isn't as kind of place as 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:59.479 as wonder True was. Maureen lives next door to Atlanta, 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:02.960 and they see each other almost every day. I think 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:05.000 if you as a woman in your own right, doing 0:23:05.040 --> 0:23:08.679 your own thing, and we kind of keep track of 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:12.919 each other. And yeah, and because we live in the 0:23:13.000 --> 0:23:16.480 same small community, we can go to events together. Which 0:23:16.520 --> 0:23:26.320 is really nice. I wanted to be seen as myself. 0:23:26.359 --> 0:23:28.359 It wasn't just from the outside world. It was also 0:23:28.440 --> 0:23:32.800 from my family, like, hey, you guys decided to start 0:23:32.800 --> 0:23:34.920 to school and do all these things, which is amazing 0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:37.160 and great, and yet I need to figure out who 0:23:37.160 --> 0:23:39.640 I am outside of this family. And it was such 0:23:39.640 --> 0:23:43.639 a strong narrative that it definitely took some work to 0:23:43.640 --> 0:23:46.680 go like, hey, this is me over here, just as 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:52.080 I am. So even when you're seen and heard, there's 0:23:52.119 --> 0:23:55.239 still an individual. Is very important part of growing up, 0:23:55.359 --> 0:24:26.480 right m h. Next time on Finding Raffie. Like anyone else. 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:30.280 You know, I've had periods of my life where you know, 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:34.399 I've had challenges to go through, but it's always a 0:24:34.480 --> 0:24:37.480 return to love and a return to play. Just a 0:24:37.520 --> 0:24:44.000 little playful Raffie, yeah, baby, So you know, it's just 0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:47.679 my way of enjoying every single day. Joy is not 0:24:47.880 --> 0:24:54.960 something to be postponed. Finding Raffie is a production in 0:24:55.040 --> 0:24:58.639 My Heart Radio and Fatherly in partnership with Rococo Punch. 0:24:59.160 --> 0:25:03.320 It's produced by Catherine Fendalosa, Meredith Hannig, and James Trout. 0:25:03.760 --> 0:25:08.080 Production assistance from Charlotte Livingston. Alex French is our story consultant. 0:25:08.400 --> 0:25:12.720 Our senior producer is Andrea Swahee. Emily Foreman is our editor. 0:25:13.240 --> 0:25:18.400 Fact checking by Andrea Lopez Crusado. Raphae's music is courtesy 0:25:18.400 --> 0:25:21.639 of Troubadour Music Special thanks to Kim Layton at Troubadour 0:25:22.080 --> 0:25:25.040 and the news clips featuring Brenton Atlanta Cameron Our courtesy 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:29.080 of the CBC. Our executive producers are Jessica Albert and 0:25:29.160 --> 0:25:33.040 John Parotti at Rococo, Punch, Ty Trimble, Mike Rothman and 0:25:33.119 --> 0:25:37.080 Jeff Eisenman at Fatherly and Me. Chris Garcia thank you 0:25:37.119 --> 0:25:37.680 for listening.