Guests: Mike Chalupa & LaShawn Bowser
Hosts: Vashaunta Harris & Jim Goenner
What does it look like when a public school is designed around a single, powerful question: What would it take for every student to be known, loved, and inspired academically?
In this episode of Bold by Choice, hosts Vashaunta Harris and Jim Goenner head to Baltimore to spotlight City Neighbors—a family of public charter schools that has spent nearly two decades proving what’s possible when creativity, authentic relationships, and student agency sit at the center of learning.
City Neighbors began not in a boardroom, but in a living room—where 17 families gathered around a quilt-covered table, dreaming up the best school they could imagine for their children. From that vision grew one of Maryland’s earliest charter schools, now expanded into three campuses serving nearly 900 students across two K–8 schools and a high school. The through-line has never changed: small communities, deep relationships, and learning that matters.
Mike Chalupa, Executive Director and founding leader, shares how his own middle-school experience—watching the clock tick toward dismissal—shaped his commitment to building schools where students don’t want learning to end. LaShawn Bowser, school leader at City Neighbors Hamilton, reflects on her journey from youth counseling to education and the moment she realized that how students experience their school day shapes everything else in their lives.
Together, they unpack what makes City Neighbors distinct:
Public project-based learning grounded in real questions and real work
Reggio Emilia–inspired design, treating students as capable, creative, and worthy of deep respect
Arts integration as a core academic strategy
Intentional physical spaces that signal calm, dignity, and collaboration
Teacher autonomy and professionalism, where educators design learning with students, not just for them
Listeners hear powerful stories—from a student who learned she no longer had to change herself to fit school, to graduates who name the adults who loved them when it wasn’t easy, to projects that helped students see themselves as problem-solvers and creators in the world.
The conversation also pulls back the curtain on leadership: the hard days, the failures that become learning moments, and the long-game mindset required to do human-centered work well. As Mike and LaShawn remind us, this is journey work—and transformation doesn’t happen on a timetable.
This episode is a reminder that:
Joy, beauty, and belonging are academic strategies
Failure is an event, not an identity
Great schools are built by communities brave enough to ask different questions
If you believe public schools can be places where students are fully themselves—brilliant, curious, messy, creative, and whole—this is a #SchoolBrag you won’t want to miss.
Listen in and be inspired by City Neighbors—where students are truly known, deeply loved, and academically inspired.
