Families, Superpowers, and Startups: Inside Our Heroes’ Final Quests of 2025
As we close out the 2025 calendar year, our heroes aren’t winding down—they’re stepping into some of the most real-world, high-agency work of the year. Across every Studio, they’re acting as cultural hosts, art chemists, storytellers, strategists, photographers, and founders of their own passion projects.
Here’s a short look at each Studio’s final Quest of 2025, and how it builds both real-world skills and hero leadership.
Spark Studio: Families Without Borders
In “Families Without Borders,” Spark heroes step into a Quest for connection in a community filled with many voices, stories, foods, and traditions that rarely get shared. Forest families will visit the Studio and become explorers of their own roots—cooking old recipes, recalling songs, and crafting memories that culminate in Families Without Borders Day, where the Spark Studio will fill with color, music, and laughter as everyone shares a piece of their culture and what they’ve learned.
By learning about each other’s regions and answering questions from guests, heroes gain deeper understanding, respect, and unity as they practice welcoming, presenting, and hosting. It’s early formation for futures in hospitality, diplomacy, and community-building—and a powerful first taste of what it means to lead others into a shared experience.
Lower Elementary Studio: The Secret Science of Art
In “The Secret Science of Art,” Lower Elementary learners become Art Chemists and Storytelling Artists on a mission to brighten the lives of residents at a local memory care center. They experiment like real pigment chemists as they create safe, handmade art materials—natural paints, textured papers, and coloring tools—discovering the science behind color, blending, and texture.
Using these materials, heroes craft “My Hero’s Journey” artwork that tells the story of their goals, dreams, and lessons learned this year, then share their creations with Dream Teams at a special Exhibition. Along the way they study courageous artists who used creativity to connect with others, building the same mix of scientific thinking, empathy, and communication that powers real-world roles in design, materials science, art, and care work.
Upper Elementary Studio: What’s Your Superpower?
“What’s Your Superpower?” is a three-week Quest that helps Upper Elementary learners do three things at once: reflect on their specific strengths and talents (especially how they help others), bring those strengths into rich conversations with their Dream Teams, and learn some real chemistry along the way. Heroes identify their “superpowers” with help from partners and groups, then turn one strength into a believable superpower using real science—like a great listener who can suddenly hear otherwise-imperceptible sound waves.
They will create trading-card-style profiles of their strengths to share with their Dream Teams, use those cards in group strategy games, and then lead their own Dream Team meetings, using prompts to explain who they are, what they’re working toward, and how their adults can best support them. It’s kid-sized leadership coaching and team strategy work, grounded in science and storytelling.
Middle School Studio: Follow Your Dreams (Passion Projects)
This time around Middle School heroes are tackling a real-world problem: young people often have interests they care about, but rarely get to turn those passions into purposeful, disciplined, and collaborative work. To solve this, each hero will choose a topic that energizes them and, using learning-science habits, will design a Passion Project rooted in their own purpose and goals.
This three-week sprint happens in small Collaboration Triads that act as first teams—offering professional feedback, accountability, and shared Team Outcomes Briefings that mirror how real teams communicate progress. At Exhibition, heroes present the outcomes of their projects and then host a Dream Team meeting where caring adults help them reflect on their growth and chart purposeful next steps, building muscles they’ll use in any future project, startup, or career.
High School Studio: Photography (Through My Lens)
In “Photography (Through My Lens),” high school learners create an unforgettable holiday gallery experience: An Evening of Lights, Music, and Storytelling. They work as photographers, curators, and visual storytellers, creating images that don’t just look beautiful but say something—photos that whisper, shout, hint, reveal, and pull guests into a story.
Heroes learn how light creates emotion, how composition guides the eye, and how to transform everyday objects into compelling visual narratives. Through cycles of experimentation, critique, revision, and reflection, each hero produces a polished two-photo series and artist statement, unveiled at a formal, holiday-themed gallery night hosted at a local venue with families, experts, and community partners. It’s direct practice for in-demand creative fields—photography, media, and design—and a powerful stage for public speaking and confident self-presentation.