Who We Are
Mission
Cool Learning Experience nurtures the well-being of the whole child and their healthy connections to family, community and nature through dynamic, hands-on programs that combine place-based, environmentally focused, and socially relevant experiences.
Vision
We envision a world in which all children in the community are cherished and given the tools to thrive in relationships with their family, community, and the natural world.
Our DEI Statement
Since its inception, CLE celebrates the talents, expertise, dedication, and lived experiences of all people, especially those who have been systemically marginalized. We are committed to creating spaces where everyone can contribute fully, grow freely, and support the unfettered nurturing of human potential.
OUR INSPIRATION
Early in 2008, two pastors of the First Baptist Church of Waukegan noted how multiple factors combined to undermine healthy child development, forming all-too-familiar destructive patterns resistant to change. With one being a wilderness guide, the other an educator and former scientist, their shared insights led them to use a different approach to combat the dire future being faced by many children.
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Cool Learning Experience was founded that summer as a learning program which addressed the child as a whole; with specific consideration given to the entire life context in which a child was being raised. In our view, education is only complete when a child has developed a positive, harmonious relationship with self, peers, family, community and nature.