Dear Galileo community,
Galileo’s purpose is to develop innovators who envision and create a better word. It’s a mission that is built on a fundamental idea: The world can change, and we each have a role in changing it. Right now, that means making a plan to VOTE in national and local elections between now and November 3. We encourage you to check out When We All Vote for ways to increase civic engagement.
The truth is, we’ve all been impacted by events of this year and—at the same time—the ways we’ve each been impacted have varied greatly based on historic and current systems that have been shaped by our elected public servants.
At Galileo, we’ve been thinking a lot about how we can each show up for our personal and collective values, and model civic engagement for our kids. Our programs teach our kids and staff that innovators and changemakers exhibit five core values. While we talk about them in one way with our campers and staff, we wanted to consider how we would define them for our political leaders.
As an organization, we believe in:
- Being visionary: Leading from a perspective of possibility and optimism, while also being tough on the status quo. Drawing inspiration from examples around the world and nation to paint a picture of what we can work towards together to address issues such as climate change and pandemics.
- Being courageous: Creating an environment that encourages people to put forth their bold ideas, and create experiments that can be learned from. Don’t shy away from creating small failures in the service of the greater good.
- Being collaborative: Cultivating spaces that supports differences and values other perspectives, actively repairs damage done, and prioritizes racial justice. Building on each other’s ideas and strengths generates the best results.
- Being determined: Guided by a collective, higher vision for all, staying focused and keeping at it.
- Being reflective: Communicating with transparency then using feedback, data, and science to evaluate progress, and redesign appropriately.
When our leaders embrace these traits, our democracy can move forward in healthy ways for all of us. We invite you to use this lens when considering your choices, and also suggest that this can be a good way to engage your kids in this political season. Ask them, “What traits would you like in a President?” To build your kids’ belief in democracy and the future, try to shift the discussion away from the negative and towards the things you would like to see.
But more than anything, get out there and VOTE, and take your kids with you if you can.
All the best,
Glen Tripp
Founder & CEO
Galileo Learning
