Mission: Nuturing Tomorrow's Intellects

With the help of Joe Barton, GGAC’s Director of Support Services, Dr. Ho was able to unveil the F.I.T. Program to the Scouts (boys and girls) of GGAC. The inaugural F.I.T. Program had 22 participants and was held from July 2 through July 17, 2020, meeting every evening from 4 – 9 PM via Zoom. All FIT participants, students and instructors alike are calibrated to the same baseline through participation in a one-week prerequisite session preceding the core F.I.T. program. The needed “prerequisites” that fuel growth mindsets include Statistics, Reading, Scholarship and Public Speaking.

F.I.T. Participant Testimonials

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gtrr_Gr8Dw)

Here are a few “snippets” from FIT-2020 graduates about the program: 

“I'm so glad I can participate in the FIT Program, and I think it came at a perfect time in society and the world with the pandemic.” Beck M (Junior, Acalanes High School)

“It was definitely challenging, but I like the challenge. I will be going for seconds so to speak.” Catherine B (Junior, Campolindo High School)

 “I really enjoyed the small class size and getting one-on-one help. I didn't think I would enjoy Programming.” Vincent C (Senior, DeLaSalle High School)

“I learned a lot and specifically enjoyed the interconnectedness between Data, Health, Earth, and Political Sciences.”  Alex J (Senior, Albany High School)

“From the Scouting perspective, FIT captures the goals and objectives of the merit badge program and applies it in a real world environment which gives the scouts an added advantage in learning how to apply all of the outcomes of the Scouting program throughout their lifetimes.” Joe Barton, GGAC Director of Support Service

More about F.I.T.

F.I.T. is a three-week program that organically encourages high school juniors and seniors to solve complex anthropogenic related problems. The core of the program is a series of evenings from 4-9 PM for three weeks and revolve around rigorous reviews and analyses of literature on the health status of humans and the earth within the context of our current political environment. The nuts and bolts of F.I.T. are facilitated through interactive sessions presented in a Socratic style. The founder of the program, Dr. Ho is a firm believer that “no one-size fits all in terms of how to interact with and mentor students.” As such, the program limits the number of participants in each track to a maximum of ten. The program metamorphoses during the three weeks through daily inclusion of feedbacks from students into the virtual classroom instructor-student interactions for the following evening. As such real-time “adaptive” learning is encouraged to enable the growing minds of the participants to develop creative and thoughtful solutions. Critical thought is catalyzed through a safe space where each instructor is focused yet facilitates a whimsical classroom environment.