Where We Came From:

Both being a product of the American Public Education system and coming out just “fine”, we followed the same path as many of our peers- graduate, go to college, figure out what you think you want to do, perform for the next 45 years, and retire by 65 if you’re lucky. We lived for the weekends and dreaded the days in between. Life was not shaking out to be the dream we thought it would be. By 2018 when Wesley was born, we were just going through the motions. We both worked full time careers, we lived in our ticky-tacky house, and most days were simply about survival.

Fast forward to 2022. While we were both familiar with the unschooling concept from research, we were still unsure about where to send Wes. We eventually found a small private school that taught this very concept and we lucky enough to get Wesley accepted- and he loved it! He dreaded the weekends and loved every Monday that he got to go back to school. In a matter of just a few months, his speech improved, his social skills skyrocketed, and his overall curiosity was more than we could have imagined. But as quickly as we came to love Wesley’s new school, they shut their doors before Wesley could finish his first year.

We were crushed. There was no other school like it in our small suburban area of Phoenix. Following the news of the school closure, we took a long weekend getaway right after and pondered all of our options, which weren’t many. We eventually landed on the one that would completely change our lives and finally help us find our purpose. We offered to buy the school and keep it going and from there forward, we were in for a ride that we never even knew was possible.

We launched our Queen Creek campus in July 2023 with a small group of young adventurers and have not looked back. Our journey of owning a school lead us to a lot of new discoveries and one that eventually brought us to the Apogee Strong family. After many discussions, more evaluation than was probably needed, we decided to go all in with Apogee which made moving school affiliations easy.

We have continued this journey because as parents, we were adamant to not let our son fall into the same societal trap and lie we were told. Our community needed another option. Our children needed another option. We were sick of seeing children being subjected to the same failed system teaching them a lot about nothing, no skills for life, and mostly just to sit down, shut up, and submit to authority.

Critical thinkers are sick of being told what to do. They are sick of being told trust the system. They are sick of being told what to believe because they TV told them to. These are the same families we talk to on a daily basis. These are the families that want more for their children and their children’s education. They want a woke free environment where children can be children and are free to learn and discover their talents.

At Apogee San Tan, we believe our community deserves better, they deserve more, and mostly they deserve to send their children to an environment where they can grow and prosper. We want better education, better physical fitness, and better mental health for the next generation.