FROM ENTREPRENEUR TO SCHOOL FOUNDER: LIGHTING PATHS FOR OTHERS

LAKE LAND saying she believes much of her success has to do with her time COLLEGE ALUMNA here. KRISTIE CAMPBELL “The people who teach at Lake has led quite a remarkable life. Land College are very interested From becoming an entrepreneur in in teaching,” Campbell said. “I just the restaurant business to starting had the greatest experience, and an alternative education school, it really helped springboard me Campbell ambitiously pursued her dreams “I JUST HAD forward in my education and career path. I got from an early age. THE GREATEST pretty well straight As in EXPERIENCE, AND college, and I think a lot Having dropped out of high school at age 16, Campbell’s path to a bachelor’s degree IT REALLY HELPED SPRINGBOARD ME FORWARD IN MY of that had to do with the foundation I received at Lake Land.” included Boston EDUCATION AND After getting married, University, Lake Land CAREER PATH.” Campbell and her College, Duke’s Marine Lab and eventually the -CAMPBELL husband opened The Firefly Grill in Effingham, University of Miami, named for Campbell’s where she finished with a double memories of catching fireflies major in math and biology. in her grandmother’s backyard. “Of all of those college Camden in the community, experiences, I can tell you Lake the Campbells struggled with Land was hands down the best,” decisions about her education. Campbell said. “I learned more in Deciding to raise their daughter those two semesters than probably “Though it would have been all the other schools combined.” much easier to homeschool my daughter, once I got so far into Campbell offered many words of the research I realized there was praise about Lake Land College, really a need in our community,” Campbell said. “We need to evolve the way we’re educating our children to prepare them for the modern workplace. The reality is that two out of three kids in grade school today will be working in jobs that haven’t been invented yet, and that number is just going to increase.”

Campbell’s solution was the Buckeye Friends School, an alternative education school that focuses on cultivating children’s natural creativity, curiosity and motivation to learn.

“What we believe at Buckeye is that there’s no way we can prepare our kids for this rapidly evolving future by doing what we’ve done in the past,” Campbell said. “We focus on what’s called ‘desirable difficulties.’ We are not interested in removing obstacles from our kids’ paths. We want to help them cultivate the skills and the courage to move through those obstacles, because ultimately that’s the best way for the human brain to learn.”

AS FOUNDER OF BOTH THE FIREFLY GRILL AND THE BUCKEYE FRIENDS SCHOOL, CAMPBELL CONTINUES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE FUTURE OF TODAY'S YOUTH.