SARASOTA WINS OPPORTUNITY TO LAUNCH INNOVATIVE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

SARASOTA WINS OPPORTUNITY TO LAUNCH INNOVATIVE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

​There is something new under the sun, and it’s coming to the Sunshine State—Sarasota, to be precise. Sarasota resident and innovative educator Alison Rini is founding Star Lab, an elementary school like no other, to open in the Newtown neighborhood in August 2024. “We’re fusing together cutting-edge research on learning and motivation to design a school that brings joy to our children and the adults who care for them.”
 
The Drexel Fund, a Philadelphia-based philanthropy that provides start-up venture capital to entrepreneurs for ground-breaking schools committed to serving low-income students, awarded Rini a one-year Founders Fellowship to prepare to launch Star Lab. Working in priority states where publicly-funded school choice programs make quality private schools enrolment accessible, the Drexel Fund has established 26 new schools in its first four years of operation since 2015.  It plans to open 50 more, including Star Lab, in the next five years.
 
Mrs. Rini was chosen for the Founders Program due to her innovative school model and her extensive educational experience in Sarasota. She has taught at public, private, and charter schools for more than two decades and served as Principal of Island Village Montessori and Assistant Principal at both Pine View and Cranberry schools in the Sarasota school district. She studied neuroscience at Columbia University for her B.A., and has Masters degrees from Teacher’s College in both elementary education and educational leadership.
 
Star Lab will enroll twenty kindergarten students next year and add one grade per year through fifth grade. Each Star Lab student will follow a customized learning path. Both curricula and class schedules will be designed for maximum flexibility, tailored to each student’s individual needs and achievements. As students complete structured learning targets, they progress to the next level. Rewards for achievement, such as outdoor recreation time and real-world projects, will provide motivation. Star Lab’s vision is a true collaboration between teachers, families and students, uplifting each other through the power of relationships. 
 
Star Lab has received its non-profit status as a 501c3 entity, named Redefine This Inc.. The next steps are finding a building for its opening next August, enrolling twenty pioneering kindergarteners, and hiring adventure-loving staff. Star Lab can be reached through a website (www.starlab.world) and a Facebook page (facebook.com/StarLabSRQ). 
 
 
 
Putting the Fun in Fundamental
A committed—if not to say driven—educator, Mrs. Rini draws on students’ strengths. “Children,” she says, “love to play, to move, to improve, and to learn.” So what should a school they’d also love look like? Like Star Lab, with, for example, brightly colored learning materials, just right for little hands. Children can move about, within a learning environment designed just for them. They’ll understand the purpose of learning is not for a test score but to gain skills and knowledge for growth and confidence. In short, it’s a Happy Place where each child can shoot for the stars.