By Matthew Lynn, Class of 2025
This article is a part of a series of student stories of growth curated for the 2025 One Event. If you enjoy this story, please donate and tell us which student’s story inspired you to give.
When I first started here at One Stone, I would say that I was extremely nervous about being somewhere new, uncomfortable, and so drastically different from how I had been homeschooled the rest of my life. One Stone wasn’t entirely new to me. The year prior to being accepted into One Stone’s high school, I had been attending Project Good on and off, being there as much as I was able. Project Good is an after-school program that any high school student in the Treasure Valley can participate in. During that year of Project Good, I had the opportunity to work with teens struggling with mental health. Alongside the rest of my team, we ended up creating a small break room in a project called “A Shatter that Matters.” This was a space where teens could come and break everyday objects such as plates, glasses, vases, and other such items. But that whole year in Project Good, I never really found the ability to step up and be a leader. I was just going along with the flow of things and doing what I could to work with my team. That year in Project Good was really what I needed to make the decision to apply to One Stone.
In September of 2022, I had my first day of school. I had been homeschooled up until this year, and while One Stone’s teaching and learning methods were not entirely new, they were still very different from anything I had done before. After my first couple of weeks here, I had only just started grasping what it meant for my learning to be led by me. During October, all of the incoming students were split into groups to then come together later in the month and plan a Halloween event using One Stone’s design thinking process. The challenge of creating an event like this was coordinating a group of 25 or so people who were all so new to this and all had so many different ideas. The process was difficult, and there were times when I didn’t want to be doing it, but at the same time, I was doing more with my team, participating, and even starting to lead a little bit.
Over the rest of that school year, I started exploring my passions more deeply than before and trying to incorporate them into my learning. I took a few learning experiences and workshops that had to do with photography or podcasting, and from those, I learned a lot about self-management. Looking back, I grew more than I gave myself credit for during that first year.
While reflecting on writing this story, I came across this quote from first portfolio presentation at One Stone:
“I believe that I have learned and grown a lot in empathy from Project Good and XLab. Some examples of how I’ve grown are learning to empathize with young kids and their parents. I have also grown in grit by not giving up when things were hard or stressful. For example, with the Nightmare Before Halloween event I put on with the rest of XLab, we had a lot of stuff go wrong or something happened, and at some points we wanted to give up on it, but we stuck with it, and it turned out great.”
Now, in my final year here at One Stone, I can say that I know how to lead, I can empathize, and most of all, I haven’t given up. That last one is really important. I haven’t given up, but instead, I’ve taken control of my learning, incorporated my passions into my work, discovered new passions, and continued to learn and grow alongside my peers. Things haven’t been easy in any sense of the word, but I have kept going. If nothing else, this is a story of grit and perseverance.In the spring of 2023, I went on my first spring trip, which is an annual One Stone trip that allows students to connect and grow in nature. I chose to go on a 14-mile backpacking trip, even though I had never been backpacking. It was both physically and mentally challenging, and took grit and persistence to hike in the hot sun all day. But those hard and negative aspects didn’t seem to affect me as much with the amount of joy and connection I experienced. I spent the entire day talking with my peers and coaches, making new connections, and so many fun memories. I realized that the trip was exactly what I needed to feel more refreshed and more connected with the people around me. I learned more about myself and others and was able to recharge and experience mindfulness, while setting the stage for a mindset of growth.
In my second year, I challenged myself to step further out of my comfort zone. I did a Model Arab League conference for the first time, despite my fear of public speaking. Representing a country in a professional, fast-paced environment with older, more experienced students was intimidating, but within the very first session, so many people approached me, welcomed me, and helped me to feel more comfortable. I had to develop skills in debate, critical thinking, and communication to collaborate on world issues and current events. Although it was unfamiliar and scary, by putting myself into this setting it has helped me build confidence and learn valuable skills, while gaining new perspectives. I left the conference feeling empowered because I embraced the challenge and have grown through the experience.
This year, I decided to focus on exploring a long-time interest of mine—science. When a six week fast-paced chemistry experience was offered and coached by a chemist, Molliann, I was so excited, even though I had no background in the subject. We did a new experiment each day, and initially I was overwhelmed by the new concepts that were challenging for me to understand. I put a lot of effort into taking detailed notes and observations, and committed myself to doing research to understand the experiments. Overtime I began to adapt to the learning pace and manage my time efficiently to make sure I felt more confident in my understanding of the basics of chemistry. I loved the amount of engaging hands-on experiments we did, my favorite being an E. coli transformation where we introduced a fluorescent gene into the DNA of E. coli. This experience not only sparked a passion for chemistry but also strengthened my scientific inquiry and curiosity skills. It showed me that by putting in the effort and taking ownership of my learning, I can develop valuable skills and grow in new ways.
Through consistently embracing challenging opportunities like backpacking, Model Arab League, and chemistry, I not only discovered new passions but also built the confidence to tackle challenges and explore possibilities that once scared me. Managing and taking charge of my growth through each of these experiences has pushed me to face my fears, try new things, and develop a deeper understanding of myself and the world around me. I learned to view challenges as opportunities for growth rather than failures. By diving into my curiosities and practicing grit and vulnerability, I have learned to value growth and strive to keep learning.
