Katelynn Stone

I grew up in a really tiny town, and when I left home and discovered how big the world was, I was fascinated and wanted to dig my hands into everything. I realized that I had a passion for cultural anthropology and was consistently the person that ran tutoring groups and that people would ask for help from. I realized that I really enjoyed empowering other people and their learning, and I just kind of fell into education. I started working in after-school programs, and it went from there. Throughout my career, I've worked in all aspects of education - I've run programming for out-of-school projects and after-school activities, taught in classrooms K through 12, done curriculum creation and consulting, served as a special education director, an assistant principal, and a dean. I'm also a military spouse, so I've lived and moved all over. In my career, I've noticed very consistently that the fiery passion I see in young people to live their lives and dig and get messy with the world is often deferred in the name of standardization. When we recently moved to Florida, I had an experience in the public schools where children were prevented from discussing any current event in the classroom, which I found harmful. I decided it was time to innovate, so I'm starting Everroot Academy, opening in August 2026. It's a virtual school with place-based projects specifically with a global consciousness lens, so kids can see their potential as future change makers and thought leaders. We'll serve transient children really well - military children, unhoused children, children undergoing medical treatment, or in shared custody. Wherever they move, they can still tap into the same community, and those moves are no longer seen as a detraction from their education. Being a mom to two children has offered me a totally new lens to empowering young people, because there's no way I could have known the depths of love and fear that goes into a parent trusting me with their child before I became a parent myself.