Meet the LA school co-founder helping underserved students change their lives – NBC Los Angeles

A Santa Monica man’s passion for uplifting and educating students who historically have been underserved is paving the way for them to succeed, thanks to a unique school he co-founded.

Erin Whalen is the Assistant Superintendent of Student Services for the Da Vinci Schools Network, which serves students who have faced hardships. At Da Vinci RISE High School, students are given a flexible learning schedule, projects that expose them to helpful real-world experiences and help them develop skills for different career paths.

“I think education is the perfect vantage point to support a person in actualizing who they are and truly becoming the best version of themselves,” Whalen said.

Some students and alumni who’ve attended Da Vinci RISE have experienced housing instability, foster care, probation and other hardships that have been disruptive to their academic learning. Like Whalen, the educators and staff at the school are dedicated to helping these students navigate those obstacles and succeed.

“RISE was originally founded to serve students at the margins,” said Naomi Lara, RISE’s Principal. “Every student has a group of trusted adults that know who they are. We get to learn their needs, their triggers, their passions, their interests, and we get to provide an environment where they feel like they can belong.”

Whalen said he’d always dreamed of designing a school specifically for students in need and when he saw the opportunity to do so, he jumped right in.

“We submitted to a large nationwide challenge called XQ Super Schools,” he said. “There were over 700 applicants, some coming from people in superintendency, some coming from folks who had been in education for most of their life. And here come two 20-somethings with a big dream to create a school that was designed for people that matter to them. And through that submission, we ended up getting $10 million over five years to create RISE.”

With the successful creation of his dream school, Whalen now helps nearly 3,000 students at five Southern California schools. The care he pours into the students he guides is evident by his colleagues.

“He looks out for every student and particularly the ones who don’t believe in themselves. He finds a way to highlight their potential and their capability, and it happens,” RISE Theatrical Director, Diane Feldman, said of Whalen. “He means joy. He means heart. He is the epitome of what a human being should be.”

Whalen said he firmly believes you can change a young person’s life for the better if you teach them how to truly see the world, critically analyze it and help build their own identities within it.

“I think our students at DaVinci RISE represent the future; they represent the possibility because they live every day in the raw and authentic reality that they have never had enough,” he said. “And so, when you hear their voices in rooms and you hear their perspectives, they speak for the underdog. They speak for the people who have been pushed away. And with leaders like that coming down the pipeline, I know that the world will be able to shift and to hear voices that have long been marginalized and will change the society so that so many don’t have to suffer.