A Unique Education: How AVS's Self-Directed Learning Led Me to a Career in Tech

Meet Gina Mancuso, a trailblazer in the truest sense and the very first student of Alpine Valley School. Starting her journey at the tender age of six, Gina embraced the unique educational ethos of AVS, where students are empowered to take charge of their learning journey from the outset. Now a successful data protection analyst in the field of cyber security, Gina reflects on how her time at AVS, with its distinct self-directed learning model, laid the foundation for her impressive career and life skills.

I started at AVS when I was six years old. Even though I was one of the youngest students, right from the start I had an equal voice, equal responsibility to the community, and was expected to be in charge of my own education. At first this took the form of coloring, playing tag, reading, and eating lunch first thing in the morning. This was balanced out with doing chores, serving on the Judicial Committee, and going to School Meetings to vote on important things like whether we could bring Halloween candy to school.

As I got older I started taking classes (gymnastics, acting, math, and Greek Mythology were my favorites) as well as joining different corporations, which are like the AVS version of clubs. Some friends and I even started our own Travel Corporation and did a bunch of fundraising to pay for a trip to The Four Corners. I also was elected School Meeting Chair, where I was in charge of running School Meeting every week, and held that role for several consecutive terms.

Now you might be thinking, that’s all well and good, but does this kind of education really prepare students for the ‘real world’? I was certainly wondering this as I got closer and closer to graduating. After a few tests, I got my answer.

“Now you might be thinking, that’s all well and good, but does this kind of education really prepare students for the ‘real world’? ”

The first test was graduating from AVS. At the time, the AVS graduation process required graduating students to write and defend a thesis on how they prepared themselves to become an effective adult. I wasn’t sure I could do that since I’d only taken a handful of English classes and had never written a paper before. However, I had been an avid reader since I started at AVS and had absorbed vocabulary, grammar, and writing flow from that. When I asked one of the staff who taught English to look over my thesis, he only had a few minor notes for me. The defense part was easy since I had public speaking experience from acting class and running School Meeting.

The second test was starting College. After graduating from AVS I decided to enroll at Red Rocks Community College to try and find something that sparked my interest careerwise. I had to take an admissions test, and I was pretty anxious about it since I had no idea how an AVS education would translate to traditional testing. But it turned out I had nothing to worry about. With the knowledge from the math classes I took at AVS and all the reading I did for fun (plus a little studying), I placed right into college level English and one class down from college level math. 

The third test was programming. I was doing well in my classes at Red Rocks, but had not found anything I wanted to pursue for a career yet. So with a nudge from my Dad (try it, you can make good money programming), I signed up for a computer programming class. I had grown up casually using computers, but my classmates seemed like they had grown up living, breathing, and building them, so I was pretty intimidated. But again, I shouldn't have worried. I won’t say it was easy, but it was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and it was fun. I went on to transfer to Metro State to get my computer science degree after that, and I’m now working in cyber security as a data protection analyst.

“ I learned how to learn at AVS and even though it looked a little (or a lot) different from traditional education, it has and continues to serve me well. ”

Since then I’ve stopped questioning my AVS education. I learned how to learn at AVS and even though it looked a little (or a lot) different from traditional education, it has and continues to serve me well. 

Alpine Valley School graduate Gina Mancuso talks about the three stages of life as a student at a self-directed democratic school, feeling important, and how she earned her degree in Computer Science. She also talks about projects she undertook while enrolled at AVS and how she navigated the transition to college after graduation, along with much more!