“I’m the barista in the classroom. Would you like coffee or tea?”
That’s how Evin Schwartz, founder of Belouga and co-founder of the Thinkering Collective, was greeted when he walked into McMillan Senior Public School—a 7th and 8th grade campus in the Toronto District School Board. He wasn’t there to talk about the future of education.
He was there to help build it.
What unfolded in that classroom wasn’t a presentation. It was a partnership. It was students giving a full tour, explaining how they breed and deliver fish to nearby schools, how their ceiling-mounted AI rain system recreates a rainforest, how they’re wiring the room to respond to light and sound.
It was, quite literally, a classroom built for thinking.
“It’s the most AI-eco-forward classroom I’ve ever seen,” Evin told us. “These kids are four days into the school year and already owning the space.”
This isn’t a vision board. It’s a real capstone—part of Thinkering Collective’s model to empower educators and students to design what school could be. And it’s just getting started.
A Studio, Not a Stage
At the heart of this project is a full production studio. But this isn’t about training kids to be influencers. It’s about teaching real skills—media production, team collaboration, design thinking, sound editing, marketing, and storytelling—in an environment where students call the shots.
“We’re treating it like a business,” Evin explained. “There’s no budget. So students reach out to partners, make asks, build it from scratch.”
The studio has four core teams: management, marketing, design, and production. Each team is supported by expert mentors. The first set being built is a student-designed bedroom or living room—fully imagined and executed by them. From foam on the walls for sound, to lighting, audience seating, and editing workflows, everything is student-owned.
And the content? Entirely theirs.
From cooking shows and music sessions to mental health discussions and athlete interviews, the creative potential is unlimited—and deeply tied to who these kids are and what they want to express.
“One kid suggested an editing software,” Evin said. “I made him the lead editor on the spot.”
Where Innovation Meets Frustration
It’s easy to romanticize this work. But it’s happening in spite of structural obstacles.
McMillan’s total budget? $65,000. That includes buses, equipment, sports gear, and more. Just replacing the locks on the lockers would eat up 20% of it. Teachers get a $300 stipend per year—barely enough for a pizza party, let alone materials.
“Forget the $300. That’s an insult,” Evin told us. “This project is what a teacher’s dream looks like when there are no limits.”
This is the promise of Thinkering: to fund, coach, and elevate what educators would build if they weren’t told no so often.
Why This Matters
There’s a broader mission here. This isn’t just about McMillan or Toronto or Belouga. It’s a replicable framework—one that can plug into schools anywhere, fueled by community partnership, student interest, and creative bravery.
“The surprising theme so far?” Evin said. “How open everyone is. No resistance. Just students and teachers excited to create.”
That openness is the real currency. It’s the thing most schools are starved for. But with models like this, we can scale engagement, creativity, and possibility—from one classroom to many.
Support the Work. Spread the Model.
This capstone is only the beginning. If you’re fired up about what you just read, there are two ways to take action:
📚 Follow the journey at our storytelling hub:
thinkeringmedia.substack.com
💡 Fund more of this innovation—help us bring these dreams to life:
givebutter.com/thinkeringcollective
This is what happens when students are trusted, teachers are empowered, and the question isn’t “what’s allowed?”—but “what’s possible?”
Let’s build it. Together.
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