Greetings Eddies!

Today we're closing out the 2026 Eddy Awards, and I want to tell you about some kids.

There's the 13-year-old who has been selling salsa since she was five, launched a baking brand that landed on Fox News, and now does $500 a week from Friday drops.

The 12-year-old in Oregon who bought a non-running 1988 Dodge Dakota, taught himself to weld, and is restoring it piece by piece.

The 14-year-old actress who made it to the final callback at one of Utah's two professional theaters, didn't get the part, and responded with grace.

And the novelist who lives on a sailboat in the Mediterranean, writes fantasy, free dives to 50 feet, and records original music on deck (she's 13).

These are just a few of the stories that came out of this year's Inspiring Student of the Year category. Reading through them reminded me why we do what we do.

Education is opening up.

Families are building learning around who their kids actually are - not trying to fit them into a system that was never designed for them. And when you give kids that kind of room, they do extraordinary things with it.

Speaking of things that are opening up - fall enrollment is now wide open. If you've been thinking about OpenEd for your family - or know another family in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, or Wyoming (deep breath) - now is the time. Learn more, forward this email, or apply →

- Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

Sage Sedivec wrote her first novel at 11 - a full-length fantasy called Guardians of the Secret Isles: The Emerald Jaguar, which she completed in two months (the first in a planned five-part series). At just 13 now, she free dives to 50 feet. She composes and records original music on the deck of the catamaran her family lives on in the Mediterranean. She leads writing workshops for other kids.

She doesn't always win awards. But when she does, she wins the Eddy.

She is... the Most Inspiring Student in the World.

Sage's mother, Elizabeth, described watching her spend over a year editing the manuscript - correcting mistake after mistake, refusing to stop. 

"Talent," Elizabeth notes, "matters less than tenacity."

During live performances, if Sage makes a mistake, she keeps going. At 12, she dove to 16 meters and is now training for 20.

What impressed our judges most about Sage is that she's producing real work. The novel is published. The music is recorded and posted on her Instagram. Her writing workshops are attended by real students.

When we told her she'd won, her mother wrote back: "Sage was moved to tears."

Here's what she said when we reached out for comment:

"This award means so much to me because it feels like validation for all the hard work, dedication, and persistence I've put into the things I love. I hope my hard work inspires other kids and teens to follow their dreams and put real effort into the things they love, even if that means stepping outside what society expects."

She followed that up by donating half of her prize money to the Antigua and Barbuda Ocean Trust and their Youth Eco Diver program.

Read Sage's full story →

This category was the closest race of all, and we want to honor a few of the many hyper-impressive runner-ups. These stories all come from families who bet on a different kind of education, but the similarities end there.

Brayden, 14, Utah

Brayden has ADHD, ODD, and learning disabilities. His family tried several schools before finding OpenEd. His mother Misty described what that search felt like: "OpenEd became our last option."

But then, it became a turning point. When a student has space to learn at his own pace, in his own way, things change. Brayden now takes initiative in his coursework and completes it with growing independence. He's exploring career paths and asking real questions about where he wants to go. He volunteers with his former public school teacher's special education class on testing days - going back into the building that didn't work for him, to help other kids who are still in it. He also rescues reptiles, fostering them until they find permanent homes.

Brayden's peers and the adults around him all pointed to the same thing. His mother put it best: "What makes him inspiring is not that the road has been easy, but that it hasn't - and he continues to rise anyway."

Ilili Server, 13, Utah

Ilili has been selling salsa since she was five. Through OpenEd, she spent three years building an entrepreneurship track around that passion - and the thing that emerged was a real business.

Her bakery brand BATCH was featured on Fox News. She does $500 a week from Friday drops. She designed her own logo, silkscreens her own merch, and runs her own Instagram. After a trip to Italy to study cooking, she expanded into fresh pasta and artisan bread and now attends professional bread courses designed for adults.

Every week, she sits down with her parents for a formal business meeting with a PDF agenda she prepares. She has a budgeting system with categories for giving, college, investing, and travel.

Her OpenEd teacher, Amanda Camarena, wrote: "She is not only building a business - she is building character."

Paxton, 12, Oregon

At 12, Paxton is restoring a 1988 Dodge Dakota that didn't run when he bought it. He learned to weld this year, fabricated a custom bumper, fixed the ignition, changed the oil, and is working his way through everything else it needs to be driveable by the time he turns 16. He's also rebuilt RC cars from scratch and taught himself to wire add-on components.

His mother Alexis wrote: "When he wants to accomplish something, he goes all in."

That kind of learning - obsessive, hands-on, self-directed - doesn't show up in a standard curriculum. It needs room.

Rock on, Paxton!

Lexi Holman, 14, Utah

Lexi has been in OpenEd since she was six, using the flexibility to build an acting career alongside her academics. In the past year she has earned six IMDb credits, appeared in an upcoming Hallmark movie, performed in three short films now competing in national and international film festivals, and started shooting a feature set to premiere in fall 2026. On stage, she played SpongeBob in The SpongeBob Musical and Miss Honey in Matilda Jr. at Centerpoint Theater. She competes in student art exhibits, teaches art classes to younger kids, and helps run FLL Lego Robotics workshops.

Then Pioneer Theater Company - one of two professional theaters in Utah - invited her to audition for a world premiere musical. She made it through multiple rounds to the final callback. It came down to her and one other actress for the part.

In the end, she didn't get the part. 

Her sister Sabella, who nominated her for the Eddys, wrote about her response:

"…[S]he was calm, understanding, and thankful for the education and experience she gained along the way. I would have been crushed but she is built for this job. I think Broadway is calling her."

The flexibility of her education made the career possible, but what she's building with it is her own.

We announced the other four Eddy Award winners over the past two weeks. ICYMI:

Todd Gottlieb - Parent Educator of the Year - Todd quit his corporate career 20 years ago to homeschool his kids, well before it was mainstream. He was the only dad in every co-op and homeschool group. His daughter Ivria - now 17 with a 4.0 GPA and an associate's degree - nominated him herself. Her letter is worth reading.

Daniel J. Lowe - Innovator of the Year - Daniel is a homeschooling father of six who built Course Tracker, a free tool that changed how families organize and track their kids' education. Seven families nominated him independently. His wife Ruth wrote: "We were ready to give up on homeschooling until Daniel created this tool." (Listen to the podcast episode)

Mason Ember - Communicator of the Year - Mason is 16 and directing a feature-length documentary about homeschooled teenagers in New York. He published a letter in the New York Times responding to a negative homeschooling op-ed and spoke at the AERO conference. From his NYT letter: "To home-school correctly is to empower children to design their own education."

Math Academy - Resource of the Year - A platform built on cognitive science and spaced repetition. Students work at their own pace, and the system adapts in real time. Schools using it have seen students move through years of math in months.

Finally, a huge thank you to our judges - Amy Bowman, Jon England, Ken Danford, Matt Beaudreau, Ray Ravaglia, Michael Horn, Michelle Rhee, Andrea Fife, and the OpenEd team members who participated. Student of the Year was the closest race in the Eddys, and we're grateful for the time and seriousness they brought to it.

The most valuable thing to come out of the Eddy Awards, for me, was the stories themselves. If you know someone whose story deserves to be told next year, nominate them for the 2027 Eddys.

Ed is waiting.

That's all for today!

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