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earning is an adventure at Bright Beginnings School and Daycare where teachers refer to themselves as “guides,” and children explore the world around them at their own pace. Founded by pediatrician and child advocate Julia Fowlkes in 1983, Bright Beginnings’ approach to education hinges on the interconnectedness of all living things and the need for everyone to discover a meaningful purpose. Children explore cultures, nature, and nutrition while developing their reading, language, and mathematical skills. Housed in Fowlkes’ stately Victorian manor on Bank Street, the school is designed in a rich spectrum of colors, textures, and patterns aimed at stimulating young minds. But learning at Bright Beginnings encompasses all five senses. A typi-
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cal day might consist of gathering autumn leaves, sewing buttons on fabric, squeezing fresh orange juice, sounding out the Simlish alphabet, and building a miniature log cabin. Or it may focus, instead, on observing the life cycles of butterflies, eating with chopsticks, naming the countries in Africa, and putting on a puppet show. The sky is literally the limits for children as each day becomes an opportunity to chart new learning missions and adventures. “Just yesterday morning,” guide Samantha Brewer recalls, “I had one child using the color wheel to decorate miniature rooms, another naming the different birds native to Appaloosa Plains, and yet another writing numbers up to 357 for the first time on a roll of receipt paper. Children always leave here with a sense of accomplishment, selfworth, and belonging in this world.”