Curious Cardinals Blog

Bonjour, Hola, Ciao, or Hello in whatever exciting language you speak! My name is Emma, I live in London, and I am lucky enough to call myself a Student Ambassador for Curious Cardinals. Since I’ve become a Curious Cardinals Student Ambassador I have met so many incredible people and made lots of new friends, from LA to NYC! I have also learned so many skills, from improving my writing to speaking up when I am most vulnerable with people that I am not familiar with. I discovered this extraordinary company over the summer when I was looking for an inspiring activity to fill and enhance my long summer days. My father recommended that I take a coding class, however, I wasn’t too eager as I thought coding was boring and super challenging. So, as always, I didn’t settle without a negotiation! We made a deal that I would try at least one class. And per usual, my father was correct… I adored it! In August, I  started off with a beginners coding class where we used scratch, and now, in December, my best friend and I are building a website to publish our game on! Since getting involved with Curious Cardinals, and then becoming a Student Ambassador, I have grown so much (academically and emotionally) and discovered so many new things about myself, like the fact that if I trust in myself and work hard I see huge results.

Although only in 10th grade, Eleanor Hawkins recited a platitude common among medical students: “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses not zebras.” While it’s true that the majority of people are going to be horses, Eleanor is working on a passion project with two computer science mentors that focuses on the zebras, the 10% of the US population that has a rare disease. 

"Alright, who wants to share their journal reflection?"

MOTHER-DAUGHTER INTERVIEW: A SCRIPT

Business professionals have continuously advised our team that we should prioritize making Curious Cardinals profitable before we turn to growing our financial aid program or other initiatives that fall in the realm of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Conversely, some of our peers have asked us whether we think it is possible to ever create an equitable education business. Neither of these comments are easy to hear.

Only at Curious Cardinals would a designer get the feedback: “can you make the beak more smiley?” Comments like these were commonplace for Eva Hoffman, the designer who developed our brand concept. Every day at a startup is a learning experience, and everything we create, from the syllabus template to our email signature “Stay Curious”, has a backstory. We began the logo design process in June. In August, we settled on the graphic. But that version alone took nearly a week to complete!

The Core Cardinals have landed in our new nest: the Cardinal Crib. Our walls are lined with neon Post-it notes next to a giant whiteboard. When we aren’t teaching, sometimes we sit on chairs. Sometimes we even sit at desks (gasps). But our preferred working state is crowding around the kitchen counter to brainstorm or sitting scattered on the living room floor to work on deliverables – laptops in our actual laps. We look exactly like what you imagine when you hear “college start-up founding team living together in California.”

The water was ice cold. I remember the feeling of a hand on my back trying to push me forward. I remember putting all of my weight on my two feet, trying to push back against the hand. Then air, I was floating. I dangled in the air for a lifetime, feeling weightless.