Letter to a Hero (or Heroes)

1,000 days of adventures- so far.

Why are the first 1,000 days of life so important? Research says that the first 1,000 days are a unique period of opportunity when the foundations for lifelong growth, health, and development are established. This could not be truer for us. These first 1,000 days of Acton Academy MTY are the strong building blocks of a community that is paving the way for other brave people and creating a culture where believing in freedom, responsibility, accountability, kindness and a love for lifelong learning is the norm for self-realization, purpose, and happiness.

When thinking about a memento to commemorate our 1,000 days, I got obsessed with the idea of a pennant banner: something that I received as a souvenir from my grandparents’ far travels when I was a child and that carried lots of sentimental value. I wanted to recreate that feeling, so I got to work on crafting a handmade banner, especially for this occasion.

I had lots of help from our Acton team making it: Ira insisted on the size (you were right!); Brenda searched for the right colored material; Ale, Mariela, and Sara helped cut out the material with such expertise and care that every edge is either smoothly straight or well-rounded in all the right places.

As I was finishing pasting everything together and saw the final product it hit me- the finished banner is the perfect metaphor of what Acton Academy MTY is: a custom-made item, by a group of caring people infused with intentionality, meaning, and purpose. Acton is not a store-bought, mass-produced, flashy packaged, one size fits all item on sale. Acton is more like an Etsy listing of a handmade with love, unique item people compliment you on, but aren’t bold enough to get for themselves (because they don’t have an Etsy account, or because it comes from a far away place and takes way too long to arrive or simply because they are too afraid to buy online… your credit card might get cloned you know).

So now we’ve reached the 1,000 days milestone, and have a pennant banner to remember it, a time capsule to celebrate it (one that Heroes customized and decorated with stickers they made, and which we filled with letters to our future selves, memorabilia, pictures, and even a (clean!) face mask to remember current times by), and most importantly, a diverse group of people who came together with the same ideal: to believe in our children because they are the game changers and the future makers our society and our world so desperately need.

To our Acton families: we are so deeply grateful for your trust, support, and bravery! That’s the stuff true Heroes are made of.