Author: Kady Cheng

A New Way to Do School—And Why It’s Working

By Hamse Warfa, CEO of World Savvy

If we want students to be more engaged, we need to design learning that actually engages them. That means leaving behind outdated models and embracing experiences that reflect the world students live in—and the future they’re stepping into. And it’s already happening.

At Sejong Academy in Minnesota, students explored how to build belonging for neighbors experiencing homelessness. What began as a conversation turned into action—interviews, local research, and projects rooted in empathy and dignity. It wasn’t just about civic learning—it was about community leadership.

At St. Anthony Middle School, students addressed hunger through capstone projects, connecting their research and storytelling to real-world solutions. For many, it was the first time they were asked to apply what they were learning to something they cared about. That made all the difference.

In Denver, George Washington High School has woven global competence across every subject—infusing inquiry and real-world problem-solving into the core of the curriculum. It’s not an add-on; it’s how learning happens.

And at Hanger Hall in North Carolina, students tackled financial literacy through a project called “Myself at 30.” They used math to project their future budgets and imagined careers and reflected on the lives they hope to lead. The result? A deeper understanding of their education’s real-life value—and their own agency within it.

These stories aren’t isolated wins. They’re part of a growing shift toward student-centered, purpose-driven learning. When we trust students with real work on real problems, they rise. And when their voices and identities shape what happens in school, they thrive.

This isn’t an enrichment activity. It’s the future of school—and it’s long overdue.

The root of disengagement isn’t apathy—it’s irrelevance. When students don’t see themselves, their communities, or the world in their learning, they disconnect. And who could blame them?

What brings students back is connection. Relevance. Challenge. It’s classrooms that invite curiosity and honor differences. It’s schools that see students not just as future workers but as present-day changemakers.

The most effective educators we see aren’t just delivering content—they’re cultivating meaning. They create space for students to reflect, wrestle with complex questions, and take action. And they treat learning not as preparation for the “real world” but as a part of it.

We don’t need to abandon structure or standards. Rather, we need to connect structures and standards to students’ lived experiences. We also need to be clear on what we’re aiming for. Are we preparing students to thrive in a fast-changing, polarized world? To solve problems we can’t yet imagine? If not—we have to ask: what are we preparing them for?

The good news is that a different way is possible. And it’s already underway.

What Today’s Students Know That We’re Ignoring

By Hamse Warfa, CEO of World Savvy

We are living through a profound moment of reckoning in education.

Across the country, young people are showing up to school, but many are no longer showing up to learn. Nearly three-quarters of third graders say they enjoy school. By 10th grade, that drops to just one in four. This isn’t just about adolescence—it’s a widespread disengagement that cuts across geography, school type, and income level. And the consequences today are more serious than ever.

We’re asking students to navigate a world shaped by generative AI, climate change, global conflict, and disinformation—yet many say their education feels disconnected from all of it. When they look at what’s happening in the world and then at what’s happening in school, the gap isn’t just wide—it’s a chasm. They’re not apathetic. They’re paying attention. And they know the world requires creativity, collaboration and bold thinking—skills they don’t always see nurtured in their classrooms.

This is happening as our national education landscape grows more unstable. With calls to dismantle the Department of Education and threats to funding that supports our most vulnerable students—those with learning differences from rural areas and low-income communities—we face real uncertainty about the federal role in delivering equitable education.

At World Savvy, we believe this moment is a call to action. Disengagement isn’t inevitable. It’s a symptom of a system that hasn’t kept pace with the world around it. But if the problem is systemic, the solution can be too. We need to design learning environments that reflect students’ lives and the world they’ll inherit—because education should prepare young people not just for work but for life in a diverse, dynamic democracy.

As a father of two teenagers in the Prior Lake-Savage School District—one entering her senior year and the other close behind—I see these challenges up close. Like any parent, I want my kids to build lives of purpose and to find work that’s meaningful not just for them but for the world around them. My father used to pray that his children would grow up to be useful to society. I carry that wish forward every day—for my own kids and for every student I have the privilege to serve.

That’s why this work matters so much to me, personally and professionally. Last fall, Prior Lake-Savage partnered with World Savvy to host a Changemaker Hub, where more than 100 students and 35 educators, leaders, and community members gathered to explore a powerful question: What would it take to make school a place where every student thrives?

The answers were honest and refreshingly clear.

Students talked about the need for collaboration—not just in projects but in shaping their education. They wanted learning that felt relevant, classrooms that honored different ways of thinking, and schools where failure wasn’t punished but used as a way to grow. They imagined new approaches: mental health classes, career-focused electives, experiments with teaching methods, more choice, and more voice.

What gave me hope wasn’t just what students shared—but how the district responded. Prior Lake-Savage is shifting the power dynamic, inviting students and families into the process of defining success and reimagining the path to get there. They’re not just listening—they’re acting.

As a parent and an education leader, I see this as a model worth emulating. When we stop designing school for students and start building it with them, everything changes. We make learning more engaging. More inclusive. More human.

Coming up in Part II: What a new way of doing school looks like in action—and how it’s already happening across the country.

World Savvy is thrilled to welcome the latest addition to our team: Joy DeMarais-Lanz, our new Chief Operating Officer (COO)!  In the midst of World Savvy’s ambitious goals for growing our reach and impact across the country, the COO is responsible for supporting the internal scaling of the organization, leading the executive management team, and developing a performance culture throughout the organization. 

Prior to joining World Savvy, Joy served as an Executive Director at Synergos, an Association Management Company where she led a portfolio of 13 association and not-for-profit clients. Before her tenure at Synergos, Joy held leadership positions at HOBY (Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership), the National Youth Leadership Council, and three higher education institutions. Praised for her commitment to mentorship, Joy invests her time and energy in nurturing talent, providing guidance, and empowering others. 

We recently got to sit down with Joy and hear more about her story. Follow along with us to learn more about her, her journey to World Savvy, and her connection to our mission to educate and engage youth to learn, work, and thrive as responsible global citizens.

What was your journey with school/education like, and how has it led you to the desire to reimagine education with World Savvy?

In school, I was a bit of an overachiever and very involved—especially because I had educators willing to take some risks and engage me in unique ways. This is how I first began to engage in reimagining what education could be. I attended a school that was initially fairly traditional; however, during my junior and senior years, the school started a “school within a school” model. It was all thematic units and experiential education, combining math, science, social studies, and English, and it was team-taught. I absolutely loved it. This model was funded by the Blandin Foundation, from the Center for School Change. I was so engaged, and even began accompanying the teacher team to workshops at the Center for School Change and talking about young people’s role in school change—how young people needed to have a voice and a seat at the table, something closely aligned with World Savvy’s values and approach. That, combined with being involved in many student organizations, career and technical education, and doing advocacy and training other young people about how to get involved—I was very active even as a student in reimagining what education could be.

After high school, I attended college at St. Catherine University, where I learned the language of social justice and social change, a rich tradition at the school. I also started interning, first at the Center for School Change and then at the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC), learning the language of service learning and experiential education. That led to me writing a federal grant that resulted in a full-time job at NYLC during my senior year of college. I started there as the Director of Youth and Strategic Initiatives while still a student, after which I transitioned into a full-time role. 

If it weren’t for my high school teachers who were willing to take a risk and do some innovative, collaborative teaching and learning, I wouldn’t be in the career that I’m in today. I have immense gratitude for that group of teachers for being risk-takers. Because they were willing to think about teaching and learning differently, it had a direct impact on my life and my career—and my journey to World Savvy.

Could you tell us more about the rest of your career that has led you to this point—to joining the World Savvy team?

At NYLC, I was doing a lot of work training teachers and young people how to work together through youth-adult partnerships and service learning, school change work, and opening space for youth to serve on boards. I then decided that I wanted to be an educator myself. So I left NYLC for graduate school and, afterward, I went into higher education for eleven years, teaching at three different institutions. During that time, I really dug into teaching methodology, and I stayed connected to K-12 education—even though I was in higher education—through some training and consulting, including with the Department of Education. This work led me to Anoka-Ramsey Community College, where I launched the service learning program there. 

After that, in the role I’m transitioning out of at Synergos, I’ve now worked in Association Management for ten years. I wanted to be an Executive Director of a nonprofit, and I saw this role that looked so similar—and in the process learned that there was this whole world of association management that I hadn’t known existed. So for the last ten years, I’ve worked with professional societies and trade associations as their fractional Executive Director, helping them lead the charge around strategic plans, governance, and operationalizing their goals. 

Recently though, I’ve been craving a return to my roots in the school change world and working with young people. Especially now as a mother—my kids are currently in the Anoka-Hennepin school district, which is the largest school district in Minnesota—and helping my middle school student navigate this period of their education, I realized I wanted to be working with change agents who are committed to reimagining education. I want to play some role in that again with World Savvy.

It’s clear that the mission of World Savvy resonates deeply with you. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

The goal of educating for global competence—preparing students with the skills, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to thrive in an ever-changing and complex world—and especially through the lens of preparing young for jobs that don’t yet exist, is so important. The ability to learn, and unlearn, and relearn is so critical in our current economy, and our education system is just not set up to do that. It is critical that we, as stakeholders in education, ask questions and push the system to start thinking about the imperative of preparing young people differently.

I’m so excited to join the World Savvy team as the new COO. I’m excited to work with people who I think are smarter than I am—that will make me smarter. Throughout the entire process, I’ve been so impressed by everybody, and so impressed by the mission and the values of the organization—especially the commitment to recognizing that we are all human, that we focus on collaboration, and that not only what we do but how we do it matters. The idea how we communicate with one another, how we make decisions, and how we serve in leadership is just as important as what we achieve, I am very aligned with. I’m excited to be a sponge, to absorb and learn, but also to contribute in this type of professional community that is in some ways modeling what we hope World Savvy’s work in schools will yield for young people.

As a final question, a fun one: tell us a bit about yourself outside of work.

I have a 13-year-old, and then I have a bonus daughter who is 24 and another who is 27, and I am a bonus grandma to my 27-year-old’s 5-year-old. I also have fourteen nieces and nephews! So I spend a lot of time with my family—I just love hanging out with them, especially as my nieces and nephews are getting older and starting their lives. It’s so fun to see where they are going. I also love to travel. My husband for many years had a job with Delta, so we had many adventures flying standby. We love to see new places, see new things, and expose ourselves to new ideas. I’m also a reader, and my guilty pleasure is binge-watching TV—which I used to feel guilty about, but not anymore! I feel I have fairly typical hobbies, but the throughline is that I just love learning about people, love learning about different ideas—whether through travel, relationships, or reading—I just love consistently exposing myself to new things.

Thank you, Joy. We are so thrilled you’ve joined the World Savvy team!