What is Aperture?

Ever wonder what you're capable of under ideal circumstances?

The Aperture Mind Camp is a place for you to extend yourself in new ways - 

ways that are personalized for you, and by you. 

If you are the kind of person who enjoys long periods of focus on your own terms or who is less interested in following instructions than following an idea, the Aperture Mind Camp will provide you and others who are similarly-minded an environment where these habits are the norm, not the exception.  

Imagine having a block of time with nothing to get in your way while following a plan that you have designed - a place to start your own investigation and see where it leads.  

Imagine sharing a space with others on their own paths who are taking risks, facing their own frustrations, and having their own "Aha!" or "Huh?" moments alongside you.  

That's what the Aperture experience is and it will be unlike any learning environment you have experienced so far. 

What is the Aperture experience?

• APERTURE is a week-long immersive day camp where learning intensity is the focal point.

• Expect to be part of a community comprised of mentors and seven other students (15-19yrs) all who share a desire to learn  but whose paths lie in different directions.

• Every day for a week, you will have focused work time, one-on-one check-ins with mentors, challenging group activities, debriefs, and the usual things like lunch and brain breaks.  

• Most of the time you will be focused upon the plan you devised in the month leading up to the camp and that plan will have all of its own twists and turns. 

• The group activities will include regular check-ins where you will be able to express what you've been learning and get a chance to hear from others as their own stories build.  And you can expect surprise challenges as well.

No matter what your plan is, you will find yourself pulled into all sorts of new worlds by

 the other members of your cohort.

What are the Camp Goals?

• The main goal of the camp is to provide you with a unique learning opportunity that is supported, community-based, and yet self-propelled by desires you have in your mind.  (You can read some brief example plans below.)

• You will have a chance to build your public voice and presence by regularly describing what you are working on to interested people who aren't as deep into the details as you are. This is a valuable skill that will serve your future.

• You can expect a different kind of relationship with the mentors than you have with teachers. They are there to bring things to the surface so you can understand more about yourself and how you grow but they aren't there to tell you what to do.

You will connect with a community of others who seek the kinds of challenges that can be approached with a sharp mind and curious heart.

What Kinds of Pursuits Can You Plan for?

In the lead up to the camp, you will generate a rough learning plan that says what you're interested and where you'll start to build an understanding of something unknown.  To help guide your thinking, three "modes" are described below. The modes will shape more specifically what your days will look like and they narrow your interests into something productive.

1. Artefact generation (imagining, then creating, then testing real things)

You intend to create a work during the week that can be witnessed or otherwise experienced by others. There are no limits on the nature of the artefact - it could be literary, 2D/3D visual, digital, synthetic, musical etc. You will be in "creation" mode most of the time. During group debriefs, you will be describing the progress (or failures!) you have made during the last work session.

2. Investigation (building and synthesizing knowledge into your understanding)

You intend to deepen your understanding of a known body of knowledge. Your time is spent engaging with the nuances of a body of knowledge that is foreign to you. You will be in "grappling" mode most of the time where you are reading difficult texts, solving difficult problems, or generating summaries of your new understandings in the form of a portfolio. During group debriefs, you will summarize the kinds of ideas you are working on, the nature of those ideas, and what it takes for you to wrap your head around them.

3. Experimentation (finding things out through measurements or tests)

You intend to "try" something out, take a measurement, verify a model, or otherwise engage in a conversation with the natural world where you stand to learn something about it that is new (to you, at least). You will be in "trial and error" mode most of the time as you refine your question and your experimental approach. You may require lab equipment or perhaps you will be working with existing data sets. During group debriefs, you will describe the nature of your most recent trials, your results, and interpretations of any outcomes.

These categories are not exclusive to each other and learning plans may require a mix of approaches.

What might a Sample Learning Program look like?

Early in the application process, you will start to narrow your thinking into a productive vein that can fit into a week of intensive work. The plan will give you clear starting points but you can expect your direction to shift. The development of this plan will be guided by a mentor and will involve you doing some preparatory thinking prior to the camp. You will polish a very short statement of your plan so everyone knows what you're up to. Examples below.

What Does a typical day look like?

The image below shows the main types of interactions you can expect to have each day. The actual schedule of each day has flexibility built in so as to optimize time for individual work but the time allocations are indicated roughly in the pie chart.

At least half of each day will be allocated to individualized work.

Morning Plan Statements are a chance to hear briefly what everyone will be working on through the day.

1:1 Work with Mentor is time for direct support from the mentors and a chance to get some directional feedback.

Group Challenges will get more involved as the week progresses and they will ask more of you and your peers at every gathering.

Group Catch Ups are a time when everyone will get up to speed on each other's projects.

What is the role of the mentor(s)?

The lead mentor builds a personalized on-ramp for applicants that ultimately leads to the student generating a rough plan for the week prior to the start of camp. They also work to admit students whose learning interests overlap or somehow complement each other. The objective is to gather minds that are enthusiastic about each other's efforts.

During the camp, the mentors engage with the whole group and individuals throughout the day. Contact time with individuals can be technical in nature in the form of expert support, or guiding in nature in the form of helping a student manage their plan and where to go next. With the whole group, the mentors facilitate discussions or other collaborative exercises, and present on work or thinking of their own to set the tone for peer-to-peer engagement or make connections between student programs.  They model what learning looks like through critical engagement, curiosity, listening, and dialogue.

Cohort size is capped at eight students to ensure an intense environment.

Why 15-19 yrs?

The objective of the Aperture mind camp is to create a learning environment substantially different from "normal" school environments where students are normally grouped by age. At the AMC, students share a learning disposition instead. Students older than ~15 years of age can be capable of following their own interests deeply.