About REDI Lab

The REDI Lab @ Colorado Academy transforms education into a uniquely personalized, and creative learning experience. It is advanced preparation for college, career, and life.

Using innovative scheduling that creates time for deep work, the Lab positions students with the initiative and agency to self-direct their way through a project of their own design. By doing this, the Lab becomes an opportunity for students to develop a clearer sense of their why and recognize more of the value they have to share with the world. All of this happens alongside a traditional, college-preparatory education without adding more (and more) to student workloads.

Operating as a one-trimester “school-within-a-school” experience for CA Juniors and Seniors, the REDI Lab helps students generate the self-awareness they need to be successful in school and beyond. It does this by creating a learning community where feedback helps students incubate ideas that will distinguish them in the world. The Lab also uses principles and concepts taken from industry and the business world to further the thinking that students will need for whatever is ahead of them.

The Lab’s ability to distill student purpose into long-term potential has made it into a signature program at Colorado Academy with growing presence. The REDI Lab now offers two-week summer sessions that are open to high school students from any school in the Denver metro area. 

With the 2023 opening of the REDI Lab Aimee & Jonathan Coleman Center, students are provided with an innovative space in central Denver's Mariposa neighborhood to design their projects. The Coleman Center also brings the program into the Denver community in new and bold ways.

The Coleman Center is also home to UnlimitED, a community-based education organization for people who believe that the role of schools must be redefined and educators who want to rethink what they do in the classroom.

There is no cost to participate in the REDI Lab. However, students must apply and be accepted to the program. To learn more about the REDI Lab, contact: Tom Thorpe
 

Tom Thorpe

List of 1 items.

  • Director of REDI Lab at CA

    Tom Thorpe is the co-founder and director of the REDI Lab @ Colorado Academy. A career educator and problem-solver, Thorpe helps learners of any age grow into their full potential using creative processes. As a program director, he is an active learner who uses storytelling to explore more of what’s possible in a situation and show our connected humanity. His leadership is informed by service as a trustee on boards and as an optimist who believes in our ability to creatively solve problems together.
    View Bio
 

REDI Lab Faculty

List of 2 items.

  • Martha Smith

    REDI Lab Faculty
    View Bio
  • Amanda Zranchev

    Amanda Zranchev

    REDI Lab Faculty
    View Bio

REDI Lab News

© 2023 Colorado Academy