LIFE Culture
At LIFE, we believe that every child has a unique light, a core inner genius, to share with the world. As parents, caretakers, and educators, it’s our job to support, cultivate and channel that light.
We also believe that every person is placed on this planet for a reason. Discovering that purpose allows our unique light to shine even brighter. Throughout childhood and adolescence, strong social emotional connections and healthy growth experiences give us the confidence to try hard, take calculated risks, and step into the world to make our mark, shining our unique light from a strong foundation.
So, what does ‘LIFE’ actually stand for?
Leadership
We are all leaders. Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.
Whether we are 2 years old or 20, there is someone leading and someone following in every interaction. Whether we aim to lead a group of 2 or 2000, our worldview and life experiences greatly impact our willingness and ability to step into our light and shine brightly as we radiate our gifts to the world.
Leadership is a skill, which means it can be learned and taught.
It becomes an art form as we infuse the skills we learn with our own unique gifts, talents, and light.
Leadership is much more than a speech to a crowd. Great leaders are also great team players, always open to feedback, and committed to lifelong learning. Leadership is the example of our daily life.
Innovation
Innovation is the key to survival. But we don’t want to simply survive; we want our children, families, and communities to thrive. It is our own personal responsibility to ask ourselves:
- How can I become better?
- How can we improve?
- Am I pleased, proud, and satisfied with my efforts?
- What is needed around me, and how can I contribute to growth?
Innovation is the opposite of stagnation. Cultivating an innovation and growth mindset will serve us everywhere, in our personal lives, our professional ambitions, our health, and our relationships.
Freedom
True freedom isn’t free. It’s actually quite costly.
Whether our goal is financial freedom, national and economic freedom, or freedom of thought, time, and choice.
The current state of our Union is certainly not any one person’s fault; not even one administration or one party’s fault, and there is most definitely corruption and disgust on both sides of the political fence. There is manipulation so deep that we can’t even find the original source anymore. But we have nothing to gain from blame.
Simply stated: it’s no one’s fault, but it’s everyone’s problem.
We’re not fighting an enemy on foreign soil. We’re fighting an enemy deep within. We have been slowly and surely destroying ourselves for decades.
The amount of darkness in the world is so thick and strong that if we allow ourselves to focus on it, we can quickly become overwhelmed and debilitated by fear, scarcity, gloom, and doom. Our only option is to focus on the light. A little bit of light dispels a lot of darkness. Whatever we focus on grows, and we always tend to find what we’re looking for.
It’s easy to bash, slander, and destroy. It’s not so easy to build-up, clean up, Unify, and protect.
Freedom is a personal choice, a mindset, and a collective calling. Each one of us has ancestors to be proud of along with parts of our lineage that need healing and transformation. At LIFE, we focus on instilling our students with a strong pride in their heritage, coupled with a strong responsibility to be the change they want to see in the world.
Excellence
What is excellence?
Excellence is the opposite of mediocrity. Rising above the status quo. Striving for a life beyond limitations, rather than settling for complacency.
Not to be confused with perfection, excellence is giving your absolute best, then accepting the result with grace and compassion.
Excellence is character driven.
True excellence is the pursuit of our ultimate potential. Living with the understanding that we are all made in the image of our Creator. Our Creator is infinite, and therefore we each have a spark of the infinite within us. As we learn to tap into our own spark, we find that we are all, in fact, limitless.
A LIFE worth living is a LIFE worth loving.
The LIFE Culture isn’t merely a set of nice core values on a wall. This philosophy is a way of life infused into our thoughts, speech, and action. We work hard to embody and perpetuate these values amongst our students, staff, volunteers, partners, and the greater community we serve. We teach and practice this culture in age appropriate ways beginning with our youngest leaners in preschool and ending, well…never.
This is the heart of LIFE Global Schools: cultivating awesome humans with strong values, deep inner joy, a commitment to excellence, and a passion for paying it forward.