At closing, Eagles responded to the question: What’s one thing you want to make sure any observer at Acton takes away, one thing they must keep in mind if they plan to open their own schools?

Several alumni volunteered “Our intentionality when we’re working; we can work hard and focus and get into flow”.  One 6th grader said, “Children must not be underestimated!”.  “They should get a council,” an 8th grader offered, quickly clarifying that he meant that the students should organize their own government immediately, and not that the observers should hire attorneys.  Then a new Eagle spoke up.  The most important take away should be… “Guides are not teachers!” she declared.  So what’s the difference?  “Guides don’t answer questions.”

Really?  Is that the only difference?  Another Eagle added, “Yeah, new Actons shouldn’t even hire Guides.  We can go there and show the students how to make their schools work.”

A show of hands to gauge interest in how many Eagles would be interested in actually doing that, perhaps as a pre-requisite for graduating from middle school or as a project in high school yielded a practically unanimous, very enthusiastic, yet notably serious and almost somber “Yea”.

After that, The Eagles played poker to determine who’d get to be the first Acton Ambassador to help open a new school.  Okay…. not; this was during a Charlie Break.  Parents, those are Eagle Bucks, not Benjamins.

Though Guides don’t say much, we do listen, and when we hear, “I see your five and I’ll raise you thirty,”