What's in a name?

As we name the Sol Learning Institute, we hope to honor our past, present, and future.

SOL (for Language and Culture)

My family and I moved to the foothills of Nevada County from the southwesst and while we call this place home and send down our roots, we hope to speak to where our seeds began to take form. It was in El Paso, Texas that we began offering student-led workshops and found a community pushing for fundamental changes in education and environmental action. It was in Taos, New Mexico that we tapped into the idea of real community, not based in fads or farmer’s market meet and greets, but one that desperately needs each other to survive. We hope to honor these seeds and the culture and language in which they were first germinated.

SOL (for Solar Workshops & H.S. Certifications)

We began teaching students and then spreading out to workshops, all based on the pillars of sustainable agriculture, architecture, and economics as we sought to locally grow our own food, build and power our own houses, and keep money in the community. Our solar workshops were popular and led us to create the first NABCEP Associate’s Credential program for public high schools in the country, go Riverside High School! While we have developed a much broader curriculum for integrating sustainability into public schools, we hope to honor our Solar Workshop 101 days.

SOL (for the Individual)

We believe in teaching the sol(e) individual and delivering unique content that is both community and student centered. There is such power to expect and support each individual achieving their highest expression. Whether 15 or 95, we have an obligation to meet and teach the whole child and we hope to honor the unique gifts and perspective of each and every person.

SOL (for Tea)

When we first came to Nevada County we salvaged an old fence from the remodeling of the Tinnery in downtown Nevada City, built a chai cart for the farmer’s market, and threw out a few chairs to sit down over a cup of tea to get to know the community. We called it Sol Chai for many of the reasons listed here and we hope to honor the power of taking a moment to share time with one another.

SOL (for the Energy to Grow)

Virtually all of our energy on this planet comes from that fireball in the sky that has been wondered at for all of human-time. Whatever diet and role you choose to walk, all of your energy can be traced back to simple photosynthesis. We hope to honor the current season of change and draw upon this energy source to cultivate incredible human beings that steward all life.

SOL (for Beginnings)

We create the realities of tomorrow through our actions and intentions today. The sun reminds us that there is a continual offering of a new day, leading us individually and collectively to start anew, to shift, change, and to grow. The new growth we see in nature is a gentle reflection to continue to accept each other again and again, leaving the door to communal understanding and dialogue always open. We hope to exert our fullest capacities, through education, to bring the world towards a new beginning of social, economic, and environmental justice. We honor the beginnings, this is one now.