What could teachers build in 1,000 hours?
Our unique take on a summer internship is creating an entire year's curriculum, in just two weeks, powered by real educators.
Good morning, Alpaca, and Happy Monday!
Is it crazy for a company with seven employees to have 23 summer interns? Okay, well, yes. Last week we effectively quadrupled our team size by hiring 23 educators to be our summer interns at Camp Alpaca.
No joke — it was one of the most simultaneously energizing and exhausting weeks I’ve seen in the company. Also, I’ve never seen so much diet coke and cold brew coffee consumed in a single week.
We are exactly at the half way mark of our first ever Camp Alpaca — a paid internship program built just for educators. It’s an idea we’ve had brewing for a long time, so to see our space filled with educators — collaborating, learning, building, and connecting — it’s a powerful moment for our company.
Our Camp Alpaca educators come from all over the country, and every aspect of K-12 education. We have school counselors working alongside classroom teachers. District leaders creating content with special education teachers. Early childhood specialists building with gifted and talented program coordinators. They’re from large and small districts, from near and far!
That brings perspective to the table that we simply couldn’t replicate in our company in any other way — perspective that changes how we’re building what we’re building, because we’re listening to the teams we’re building it for.
With 24 educators dedicating 40+ hours of their summer to Alpaca, we’re gaining 1,000 hours of teacher input into the company. That time isn’t just spent commenting on our product or offering advice or perspective — it’s time spent actually building with us.
Our Camp Alpaca interns are actively building more than 30 school culture resources for Alpaca’s online resource library and weekly newsletter — which reaches 10K+ school leaders every week! Each educator pair built one school culture resource last week focused on recognizing various staff members in their buildings, for each month of the school year. In the week ahead, they’ll each build resources for strong school cultures — ideas for staff meetings, ways to celebrate as a team, strategies for healthy workplaces, and all of the incredibly creative ideas these professionals bring to camp.
Collectively, the team will build a full year’s curriculum of school culture ideas for school leaders. In two weeks! And the best part? They’re bulit by real educators in the field. So when a principal or school leader downloads an idea for a fun staff meeting, they’ll know that it’s Teacher Approved.
Yes, it’s crazy for a company of 7 people to have 23 summer interns! But to see a group of educators build an entire year of school culture resources in just two weeks?! The crazy is worth it, and the end result is going to reach thousands of educators this year.
Let’s go, Alpaca! We’ve got a big week ahead!
KB