Photo: Jen Dubie with Executive Director Sofia Gallis<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jen Dubie joined Clonlara as development director in March 2023. In her role, she supports Clonlara\u2019s mission by creating impactful connections that help us meet our fundraising goals, from securing grants to organizing events and nurturing relationships with our donors. In this article, Jen shares her unique perspective on how Clonlara is continuously innovating.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I began my work in the nonprofit sector 11 years ago. I was looking for a new career path, and while doing so I discovered a passion that I hadn\u2019t felt in my career before. I knew I wanted to continue nonprofit work with youth in my community and worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2023, I joined Clonlara as development director. I was confident that my skills would make a meaningful impact at the school. My position was new to the organization, and I joined ready to hit the ground running! I was determined to truly immerse myself in Clonlara\u2019s mission and philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though I had worked with youth and in education in the past, I was still coming in with an outsider\u2019s point of view. Upon joining Clonlara, the thing that stuck out to me the most was how the organization has adapted and continued to change with the times. More than that, the school has been an innovator in the education space from its very beginning\u2014and it still is innovating today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learning about Clonlara\u2019s history, I found that the school has consistently adapted to the needs of the community since its inception in 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When opening the original campus school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Clonlara\u2019s founder, Pat Montgomery, envisioned a school where children of all ages, ethnicities, and beliefs could learn and grow in an unhurried, relaxed atmosphere; where enrollment would be limited so that the children, staff, and parents would all get to know one another; and where families would have an active role in school life and in the education of their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If that wasn\u2019t pioneering enough, Clonlara added the Home-Based Education Program (now called the Off-Campus Program<\/a>) in 1979 to bring the school\u2019s methods and philosophy to families outside of the immediate area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a history buff and lifelong learner, I was fascinated to discover that Clonlara was instrumental in securing legal homeschooling rights. In 1993, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in Clonlara, Inc. v. State Board of Education<\/em> that state education officials could not enforce all public school policies against parents educating at home as if those policies were law. This precedent-setting victory joined other homeschooling cases to help make homeschooling a legal and acceptable education option for families across the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the school community continued to grow, Clonlara added online course options<\/a> for middle school and high school students to enhance their off-campus experience. We also started online clubs in 2020, as an additional way for our youth to be able to stay connected while having to quarantine at home. Since our off-campus learning model already allowed students to learn from home, we were able to support many new families in transitioning to a new-to-them method of learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since reopening our Ann Arbor campus<\/a> after the pandemic closure, we have grown back stronger. We continue to grow our campus enrichment program, which brings in local professionals to teach a variety of engaging, hands-on classes for campus students, homeschoolers, and other local students. This year, we relaunched our high school program on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking the risk to move forward in all of these instances is what makes Clonlara unique! Clonlara continually adapts to the needs of its community and the circumstances in the world, while staying true to its mission and philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To date, Clonlara has served over 50,000 students. The numbers do not lie; they show that our model is able to stand the test of time. Being able to adapt to the needs of those you are serving is a critical component for a successful nonprofit. Clonlara has proven to be a changemaker in the learning landscape over the past 57 years. Our distinct and nontraditional approach helps to keep us competitive when it comes to donors who are looking for a new project to support. More innovation is coming. We aren\u2019t stopping now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within the next 10 years, we want to expand to 10,000 students a year served across Clonlara\u2019s global network of programs, affiliates, and partners. We want our Ann Arbor campus to be our core, premiere model and be globally connected. We want Clonlara to further build its reputation as an education authority. Our team is currently working with a developer to create a Clonlara app. This app will be an inventive way for our families, students, and staff to all communicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We plan to target families who want the future of education NOW!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We want to reach out to families who are open to new education options and will work in partnership with us for their students\u2019 success. With the shifts in the education community, we know we can find more and more families that connect with our vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of my work here, I was tasked with creating an impact report for the organization. The last impact report was published in 2017, so we had some ground to cover! Please follow the link below to see all of our latest accomplishments and highlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\nClonlara School Impact Report 2024 [PDF]<\/a>\n\n\n\n Have you experienced Clonlara\u2019s innovation over the years? We\u2019d love to hear from you below!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo: Jen Dubie with Executive Director Sofia Gallis Jen Dubie joined Clonlara as development director in March 2023. In her role, she supports Clonlara\u2019s mission by creating impactful connections that help us meet our fundraising goals, from securing grants to organizing events and nurturing relationships with our donors. In this article, Jen shares her unique […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-looking-back"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clonlara.org\/\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Innovating from the Start<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Fighting for Homeschool Rights<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Innovating Through Major Change<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Clonlara\u2019s Impact and Future<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Our 2024 Impact Report<\/h4>\n\n\n\n