Education Unbounded

Armada Education was a three-year experiment in innovative curriculum design, collaborative team structures, and principle-centered learning. This website is a record of the educational philosophy and programming developed by our team.

OUR STORY

My name is Nicolas Zhang. This is the story of Armada – and the story of my family.

Although my wife and I were both very successful within the Chinese education system, we felt that our schooling had not prepared us for the real world. When our son Felix was born, we didn’t realize that his education would change our lives forever.

After trying a variety of schooling environments and being disappointed every time, our family took a leap of faith: Felix withdrew from school, and together we began to experiment with new learning strategies that matched our vision of a holistic education. We created an innovative learning environment called the Base, where Felix could explore his interests deeply and truly learn how to learn. In the fall of 2013, Brendan Ternus joined the project and helped develop the Base into a comprehensive education platform called Armada. Together, we refined our ideas and methods, lay the groundwork for further programming, and sought out like-minded educators to join us.

In August of 2014, Kassandra Lee and Ryan Campeau came on board, and our project grew alongside our team. Emboldened by their new ideas and energy, we launched the WonderShip, an afterschool arts program that was our first foray into the education business. In many ways, the WonderShip was the perfect kind of failure – although the program wasn’t a commercial success, the insights we gained in the process were priceless. Meanwhile, our work at the Base was going strong, and our team was enthusiastically experimenting with other innovative projects aimed at changing the vision of worldwide education.

We’ve begun to refocus our energies and plot a new course – our goal is to try to share our ideas and methods with as many people as possible and reach learners everywhere who want to become creators of the world we will live in. We’re still experimenting, trying and failing and trying again, and still learning so much in the process!

OUR MISSION

To build a global Armada of experimental learning centers where interdependent lifelong learners become complex creators and use our educational methods, tools, and experiences to achieve self-actualization.

To facilitate creative collaboration between like-minded people and organizations, and cultivate innovative engagement with the world’s challenges.