What inspired us to start Acton Academy Rexburg?
We had been struggling to decide how to educate our five children and we knew we had to figure it out quickly because they were already growing up. With our oldest we tried public school and she fit in fine and was doing well but we were just uncomfortable knowing that she may experience what we did in public school with so much wasted time and a stifled love of learning. We switched her to a local private school that was still very traditional but had a shorter school day. This was better with less time wasted which gave her time to learn with experiences outside of school, but she still seemed to be developing a resentment toward schoolwork due the endless worksheets. We considered homeschool; however, even with the support of local co-ops, we still felt there was something missing in how our children could develop meaningful relationships with their peers.
When we learned of Acton Academy, we fell in love with the idea of a multi-aged learning space where learner-driven peer-to-peer teaching could take place. We wanted a space for our kids where adults were not telling them what to do all day but where they would be responsible for their own learning. We wanted them to be inspired by stories of heroes and to be given an opportunity to chose to become who they were meant to be and not who we wanted to force them to be as in other learning environments. We knew there was nothing else like Acton Academy in our area so we started the next step in our hero’s journey to launch one in our town so our children and other families can take part in this unique kind of education.
Our Personal Hero’s Journey
Megan Dold
I come from a family of hard workers but no tradition of college. My dad is an electrician, and my grandfather was an iron worker. My public-school experience pressured me into thinking that college was my only option and did little to prepare me for decisions I would need to make in college. I struggled without a purpose to find a degree that would suit my interests and skills. I decided to change course and even though we had three children at the time, and Brian was working and in graduate school, I took responsibility for my education and jumped with both feet into an EMT program to begin my hero’s journey. I thrived in this environment and quickly received a job at the fire station in our neighborhood working evening shifts. The children loved watching mom go by our window in the firetruck.
I want our children to grow up to be heroes by finding something they can excel at that allows them to make a difference in the world and not just follow the path that everyone else tells them to take.
Brian Dold
I grew up on my grandparent’s farm where farm responsibilities were given higher priority than schoolwork. I would say that farm work, Boy Scouts, and volunteering for Search and Rescue taught me more as a teen than my entire public education. I exceled in engineering as an undergraduate, and in my 2nd year of school I joined a startup company as the lead product developer for law enforcement technology and was granted my first patent before graduating with a degree in Electrical Engineering. This was an exciting time; however, one of my professors said something that changed my mindset on engineering and what my long-term goal would be for my life. He had been in the semiconductor industry for many years and had been a lead chip designer on chips that were generating his company over a million dollars a month in revenue. Then one day, he left industry to teach. He said, “I wanted to engineer something that wouldn’t become obsolete in a few years, so I became a teacher.” This idea of applying engineering principals into the creation of something with infinite potential such as a child’s education has never left my mind.
I have since worked as an engineer for the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center; at the same time, I received a master’s degree in Systems Engineering where I learned engineering management and program management skills and how to apply systems thinking concepts. I currently am a Systems Engineer at Idaho National Laboratory and have engaged in problem solving at high levels in advanced nuclear energy and power gird integration as well as power grid security and resiliency.
While this work is challenging and does have the ability to change the world, I have always felt that there is a bigger problem that I should pursue. I get an inside view of some of the greatest technological advances our society has made and some of the greatest technological threats we face, and I don’t see how the current educational system can generate the kinds of people who are able to deal with the complex problems we face today.
I want our children to grow up to be capable of critical thinking and of making decisions in an extremely complex world.
Our Mentors
Jeff Sandefer
Advisor and Acton Academy Co-Founder
Jeff Sandefer lives a dual life as an entrepreneur and a teacher.
As an entrepreneur, he founded several successful companies — his first at age 16.
Fifteen years ago, Jeff and a group of successful businessmen started the Acton School of Business. In 2012 The Economist honored Jeff as one of the top fifteen Business School professors in the world.
In 2010 Jeff and his wife Laura started Acton Academy, a cutting edge K12 school that blends a one room schoolhouse, the Socratic Method and 21st century technology to equip each student to change the world . Acton Academy has over 300 affiliates around the world and over 18,000 applications from parent-entrepreneurs who want to launch a new school. By 2019 Acton’s Children’s Business Fairs also had served over 25,000 young entrepreneurs in over 200 cities.
Laura Sandefer
Advisor and Acton Academy Co-Founder
Laura lived on both US coasts and in between as a child, then settled in to Vanderbilt University for her undergraduate studies.
After being awarded the highly competitive Walter Wattles Fellowship at Lloyd’s of London, Laura worked in the aviation insurance industry in New York City. Deciding to follow her calling into the world of education, Laura earned her masters of education at Peabody College. This led her to her work at the Oklahoma Arts Institute, creating fine arts education programs for teachers and talented high school students.
Laura married Jeff Sandefer and is the happy mother of Sam and Charlie and step-mother to Taite. It is the inspiration of these children that led Laura and Jeff to cofound Acton Academy. Her greatest hero is her mother, who was a master teacher. Her wisest mentor is her father, who sent her off to college with two words of advice: “Be curious.”
