Louis Lacour:
Well, to answer why I’m putting so much energy into it, I think I became addicted to the project. I love making things, and so it’s been a lot of here’s what works, here’s what doesn’t, let me fix it and then try again. And it’s been that process for six months and well, the impact that it has is just like a bonus, but for me, mostly it’s just making things that I love doing.

Alec Patton:
This is High Tech High Unboxed. I’m Alec Patton, and that was the voice of Louis Lacour, an 11th grader at Green School in Bali. Green School is a K-12 project-based school focused on environmental and social regeneration. It’s in the middle of the jungle, all the buildings are made out of bamboo, and there are literally no walls. This is our second episode about Green School. The other episode is an interview with Benjamin Freud, who’s head of the upper school. I highly recommend listening to both episodes, but it doesn’t matter which one you listen to first. So if you’re here, keep listening to this one. Both the interviews are conducted by Kelly Wilson, Dean of the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. Here’s Kelly’s interview with Louis.

Louis Lacour:
I’m Louis, Louis Lacour. I’m in grade 11 now, so I’m about to be 17, and my family chose to move to Green School. Well, actually it was my decision and my sister’s. They just gave us the option and they told us about the school. They were like, Hey, look, it’s a really cool school. It’s going to be different from what you guys have done before and we think it could be really great, but you decide whether or not you want to go. And we had been moving around a lot. And so I think the idea of settling down somewhere for a long time seemed really nice, and actually having friends seemed even nicer. And so we were like, yeah, let’s go.

Kelly Wilson:
What did you know about the Green School at that time when you made your decision?

Louis Lacour:
Not much if I’m being honest. We knew their mission and what it looked like, but not much other than that.

Kelly Wilson:
How long have you been at the Green School and what stands out about your experience so far?

Louis Lacour:
I’m about to finish my second school year, and I think the most interesting thing about Green School are the teachers.

Kelly Wilson:
And what’s different about the teachers at the Green School?

Louis Lacour:
I think you’re just given a lot more freedom than any other school. And in general, teachers will give you the freedom to do whatever you want as long as it’s related to the course, and they’ll help you along. They won’t say that you have a bad idea, even if you might. They’ll just help you get to a better idea or just formulate a plan to get your goal. And I think that’s really cool.

Kelly Wilson:
Beautiful. It sounds like there’s a lot of freedom for the teachers, but also for the students to explore what they’re interested in and what they’re passionate about. In what other ways is your learning at the Green School similar or different to the schools you attended before?

Louis Lacour:
Oh God. Well, to start off, there’s no tests. It’s actually impossible for the school to do tests, so AP or SAT exams, they’re not allowed to do since they have no walls. So it’s mostly project-based learning, and that entails eight weeks where you learn, you plan and then you do. And that repeats four times a year where you can just… Actually, okay, let me just explain how Green School works. So there are four eight-week blocks, and you get to change your classes in those blocks. And so in block one you could do sailing, and then in sailing you learn how to sail, and then your project has to be somehow related to sailing. So for me, I built a wind tunnel to show how the physics of a sail work, and that’s how I got my science credit. But you can get different credits for all different types of things as long as it’s related to your class. So I think that’s the major way it’s different.

Kelly Wilson:
And I love the arc of learn, plan, do. When you did your project for sailing, did other students do a similar project or did each student propose their own project?

Louis Lacour:
Everyone did their own thing. Some students would do the history of sailing. Some students did an art project where they would build a Polynesian sailboat out of bamboo. Some students made a sextant to show how you can navigate on the ocean. So there’s a wide variety, but they’re all somehow related to sailing.

Kelly Wilson:
Last time we talked, you shared a little bit about a project that you had done related to coral reef sustainability. And so I’d love to hear what you learned at school on the project you did and then how that grew into something that you’re continuing to do outside of school.

Louis Lacour:
So beginning of this year, block two, which is October to December, I would go to a place in Bali where you could restore corals, where I learned how to scuba dive and the function of coral reefs in our world. And I saw an issue in the system that they were using to restore. So essentially there are these massive metal grids on which you place coral and then you attach it with zip ties. And it works but the issue is that those zip ties become microplastics, which then get ingested by the fish, which will then get fished by the fishermen, which you then eat, which is not amazing. And so I wanted to develop a new zip tie that would biodegrade and leave no trail because… Well, actually, let me go back a bit. Corals will attach to those structures by themselves after three months.
So you just need something to hold them temporarily, which is why it’s okay for a zip tie to degrade. So that became my actual class project, but there was no way I was going to finish it in time. So it’s evolved past the class. I’ve been working on it for six or seven months now, and there’s been a lot of trial and error, and I’m actually about to send off my first few prototypes to the reef site to see how they hold up. And so I feel like I’ve come a long way. There’s still a long way to go.

Kelly Wilson:
What really impressed me last time that we spoke is sometimes students will finish a class and they do their project and they move on to the next thing. But this was something that you became so passionate about that you’ve continued outside of school. Why do you think it’s something that you’re still putting so much energy into?

Louis Lacour:
Well, to answer why I’m putting so much energy into it, I think I became addicted to the project. I love making things, and so it’s been a lot of here’s what works, here’s what doesn’t, let me fix it and then try again. And it’s been that process for six months. Well, the impact that it has is just like a bonus, but for me, mostly it’s just making things that I love doing. And so that’s why I’ve kept doing it.

Kelly Wilson:
I also was really impressed that you were reaching out to different businesses and really thinking about the aspect of how would you take this to scale when you have a prototype that works. Can you share more about what it’s been like trying to start your own business and create something bigger out of this?

Louis Lacour:
Right now, currently most of my time has been spent actually getting a zip tie that works and getting in contact with coral reef centers who want to try it out. And once I have a few customers, then I will go to businesses and it will mostly be businesses that are related to coral reefs. So that means they pay the majority… Actually, I need to go back a few steps because there is context that is needed. So the material for the zip ties, this is the material that biodegrades, is nearly seven times the price of a normal zip tie. And there’s no way a coral restoration center on their own would be able to afford that, which is why I want to use companies to subsidize most of the cost. And in return, those companies get advertising at the centers. So if you had a scuba company, they have posters or QR codes, and people can go and scan that, and then they’re like, oh, wow, this is so cool.
And it’s just giving them marketing and then they’re also doing something good for the world. And so, for me, I see it as a win-win system. They pay a little bit for their zip tie, and then the zip tie does good for the world, and the coral restoration center doesn’t have to pay. And so that’s the business plan. I don’t know if there’s actual business happening yet, but there will be. But that’s essentially how it’s going to work. I’m betting on the fact they like the world enough to pay.

Kelly Wilson:
My understanding is that the mission of the Green School is to cultivate a community of learners who make our world sustainable. And as part of that, there’s a Greenstone capstone project that happens senior year. Can you tell us a little bit about what the Greenstone project is and what you plan to do for yours?

Louis Lacour:
Sure. So Greenstone doesn’t actually start in senior year. It starts in grade 11. So it’s actually a two-year project. And in the first year, you’re doing mostly research and planning, and then you go into your actual execution in year two, so that’s your final year. And for everyone, it depends. There’s a wide variety of projects. Actually, you can go on the Green School YouTube and you can see every single Greenstone that has been done for the past 10 years or so. And you’ll see that none of them are the same. And for my Greenstone, I want to build hundreds of really cheap wind turbines because this will allow as many people as possible to have cheap green energy, which I think is necessary, especially in East Asia. A lot of people don’t have access to power. And so if I can give that to someone, I feel like I’m making an impact.

Kelly Wilson:
So there’s the issue of access to power and then also creating power that is sustainable and green. And so how did you choose wind turbines and how did you come to know the problem of the cost of that power?

Louis Lacour:
Well, I know the cost of power because we have a little power meter on our house, and it’s actually more expensive than U.S power, which is surprising. I mean, of course we can afford it because I come from a well-off family, but most of the people here are below the poverty line, so they don’t have access to that, and that means no access to light, which means when their kids come home from school, they can’t really do homework. So power may seem like something that isn’t super important, but it impacts a lot of aspects of life, as well as water. Most of the water here is actually pumped from underground, and a lot of people don’t have power to power that pump, and so they don’t have water. So power will give access to a lot more things. And if I can do it cheaply, it’s great. And I’m not limiting myself to wind turbines. I’m also thinking of doing hydropower because there’s plenty of rivers here, which means there’s plenty of energy. And I’m open to any other options really.

Kelly Wilson:
And I think last time you shared one idea, which was to have a handheld wind turbine. Is that an idea that you’re still thinking about prototyping?

Louis Lacour:
No. I realized that wasn’t going to be super effective, but I will do a very small scale wind turbine, something that could fit in the palm of your hand, but it will be mounted up really high so it gets plenty of wind. Or even a tiny little hydropower turbine, because I don’t know if you know how Bali works, but there’s a system called the Subak, which is essentially like hundreds of tiny canals that run everywhere through Bali. And so that means you could just put in a little hydropower turbine and you could get power for the entire village. And that could be a powerful system but logistics with that become a bit more complicated, which is why wind makes it a bit easier.

Kelly Wilson:
And at the culmination of this project, you will have created something of value to the community. And you also, I believe, do a TED Talk. Can you share more about the final project for the Greenstone?

Louis Lacour:
So it’s not an actual TED Talk, but it’s like a TED style presentation. So you get up on stage and you have your little PowerPoint with your pointer, and you’re talking and you just say what you’ve done over the past two years, what impact you’ve had, how it has changed you as a person. And that’s, I think, one of the most powerful parts of Greenstone. A lot of people spend the last few months preparing their speech for their TED Talk, and when they present, there’s all of the school present, watching them, listening to what they have to say. And it’s a powerful experience.

Kelly Wilson:
So all students are there that are part of the high school or the entire K-12?

Louis Lacour:
So it’s not K-12 because I don’t think a kindergartner would understand what they’re saying, but it’s most of high school and their parents and teachers. Sometimes middle school, but never elementary doesn’t really come.

Kelly Wilson:
Yeah. Well, it’s beautiful that that culture is built in. So I imagine as a ninth grader, as a 10th grader, as an 11th, you can see different examples of how students have approached the Greenstone and begin dreaming about what you want to do and see to the future.

Louis Lacour:
Yeah.

Kelly Wilson:
Awesome. Well, there was one other thing we talked about that I wanted to ask you and that’s Jalan Jalan, which I know is a central part of your education at the Green School. What is Jalan Jalan and what learning experiences have been most significant to you?

Louis Lacour:
Jalan Jalan is a four hour class every Wednesday where you go off campus or on campus, but it’s not a academic class. Most of the time you’ll have classes where you learn about business, you learn about physics. There’s one class where you learn to make a knife. So I have a knife here, and that’s metalsmithing. I talked about my sailing class earlier. That was a Jalan Jalan where we would go to the beach the entire day and just sail. And then we would also learn about the physics of sailing. But there’s a huge variety and essentially trying to give students an experience outside of school. So there will be classes like surfing. Right now I’m doing a class where I go to the north of Bali and I do some regenerative farming with a local school. There’s a huge variety.

Kelly Wilson:
So most Jalan Jalans get the students out into the community for four hours every week?

Louis Lacour:
Yeah.

Kelly Wilson:
Wow. What advice would you give teachers and school leaders around the world that are trying to create innovative learning environments?

Louis Lacour:
Give your students freedom, but be rigorous. I think a lot of teachers underestimate how much power students can have when you allow them to show that power, but you need to be strict with them because there will be those students who want the slack, they just need a bit of a push. That’s what I’ve seen happen at my school, and that’s what I think could happen at other schools.

Kelly Wilson:
And when you think about more traditional schools, what would you hope they start doing, stop doing or do differently?

Louis Lacour:
Long-term projects. I think a lot of schools would do one to two week projects, maybe even a month projects, but that’s usually not enough time. At least for me personally, because my projects are usually weirdly annoyingly ambitious. But at the same time, those ambitious projects are usually what have the most impact. And by impact, I mean not only on the community, but yourself and your learning experience. And so I think having a project that you can do over a long time is a powerful experience because it then becomes not a project for your class, but something personal and you care a lot more about it. And I think that’s a very powerful tool.

Kelly Wilson:
And is there anything else that you would like to share about your Green School experience or closing thoughts?

Louis Lacour:
Before Green School, I wasn’t very happy. I had friends that weren’t super great to me for a lot of my life, and Green School just opened my eyes as to what life could be like. And I don’t want to make this a melodramatic thing, but I just want to say that Green School, community-wise, has been the greatest thing for me of all time. I have been the happiest here than I’ve ever been in my life.

Kelly Wilson:
Thank you for closing with that and sharing that. It’s not only about learning and projects, it’s about how do we feel a sense of belonging and connection to our community and have relationships that are meaningful in a way of life that brings us happiness and joy and purpose. And I love ending on that note. Thank you so much for taking time to connect today and wishing you the best as you finish out your projects and, well there’s no finishing out for you, the projects will continue, but doing your Greenstone and continuing to have an impact through the work you do beyond your time at Green School. It’s really impressive to see what you’re already doing in the world, and I can’t wait to stay in touch and see what happens next for you. So thank you again.

Louis Lacour:
Yeah, thank you for having me. It was really fun. Love the questions.

Alec Patton:
High Tech High Unboxed is hosted and edited by me, Alec Patton. Our theme music is by Brother Herschel. Huge thanks to Kelly Wilson and Louis Lacour for this conversation. Check out the show notes for links to the 2023 Greenstone presentations. Thanks for listening.