innOVative (OV ILC)

The Orchard View Innovative Learning Center (ILC) in Muskegon County, Michigan represents a fundamental reimagining of alternative education, moving away from punitive models toward a future-focused, project-based approach centered on love, belonging, and student agency. Under the leadership of Nick Cunan and Brandy, the school transformed from traditional adult education into a comprehensive alternative program serving students who struggled in conventional settings due to various challenges including expulsion, chronic illness, social anxiety, truancy, and academic failure. The school's three core values - innovative curriculum, culture of love and belonging, and perception-based data - create an environment where students who previously experienced academic failure find success and personal growth.

"All of our Scholars, all of our students, everybody that comes through our school - they're future focused. So not necessarily focused on like I got to get an A or I want to get into Princeton or I want to get into Yale, but rather just their future... if they can focus on that every day when they're with us, I think we can help them find success."

"At any other school that I've ever been in, I just didn't want to speak, I felt scared to ask questions, I felt scared to ask for help... Here I feel like everybody you know can ask questions freely and teachers come around, you don't even really need to raise your hand to ask a question."

"I think that Project based learning... that is real life... when you get the opportunity to solve a problem, to figure out how you're going to solve a problem, to try something and fail, that's how, that's where learning really happens for people."

• The ILC emphasizes future focus over grade achievement. How might prioritizing long-term vision change daily classroom experiences? What would it look like to center career/life preparation while maintaining academic rigor?
• The ILC emphasizes trying, failing, and problem-solving as essential learning. How might schools create safe spaces for productive failure? What changes when failure becomes expected rather than avoided?
• How do you practically implement "meeting students where they're at" with limited resources? What structures enable personalized attention within group settings?