September Highlights At a Glance
- BA Connections / Meeting Erika Donalds
- CyberFlorida Webinar Invitation
- Continuing the Conversation with Optima Ed
BA Connections / Meeting Erika Donalds
Erika Donalds, Optima Ed founder and education innovatorThanks to our membership in the Blockchain Association, as well as our recent outreach efforts in Washington D.C. with the Florida delegation, Madison Parker informed Erika Donalds about our efforts here in the Sunshine State. Intrigued by our story, Erika asked for an introduction, and we connected for our first meeting this month.
For those who are unaware of Erika Donalds, she is a well-known education champion here in Florida who is married to U.S. Congressman Byron Donalds. Starting with a charter school in Collier County over a decade ago, she has been a rising star in education circles. Her main focus now is Optima Ed, a new type of virtual school that uses VR to provide students with enriching experiences such as visiting Independence Hall or landing on the moon.
Tying together her passions for education and technology, she was incredibly interested in what we are doing here at ABE and how we can bring blockchain education to the Optima Ed faculty and students. I shared all of the relationships that have been forged in our first year, as well as how we might be able to help Optima Ed students learn about what blockchain is and how it will impact their futures. Overall, it was a great meeting, and she connected me with Optima’s CEO and Head of Schools about a week later.
CyberFlorida Webinar Invitation
Email from friend and former colleague, Jereme MonetteAfter a few conversations over the last few months, my friend and former HCPS colleague, Jereme Monette, and I were able to lock down a time for me to teach students about blockchain technology on a webinar. Next month is “CyberSecurity Awareness Month” here in Florida, and Jereme thought this would be the perfect time to schedule the webinar so that students from all across the Sunshine State could learn what blockchain is and how it relates to cybersecurity.
Using the main body of the seminar materials, I will be creating a stripped-down, surface-level overview of blockchain technology, the NSA roots of SHA-256 encryption, the mathematics behind it, and so much more. I am personally excited to deliver this firsthand to students and hope those who attend will not only walk away with a basic comprehension of blockchain but a piqued curiosity that encourages them to continue their learning. I’m quite confident I will have a follow-up reflection about this opportunity next month in the October update.
Continuing the Conversation with Optima Ed
Kim Abel, Head of Schools, and Adam Mangana, CEO of Optima EdWe capped off the month of September with a follow-up meeting with the leadership of Optima Ed. After my meeting with Erika, she was excited for me to meet Adam, her CEO at Optima Ed. I also had the good fortune to meet the Optima Ed Head of Schools, Kim Abel, who is holding up one of the VR headsets that students use at their online academy.
Much like my initial conversation with Erika, I started with an overview of what we have accomplished and potential pathways in which we could work together. After some friendly “get-to-know-you” banter, Adam simply asked, “If I could grant you three wishes to help ABE get started, what would they be?”
From there, we started to lay out plans for how we could partner together, from an introduction to ABE and its mission to using our 5-module seminar as professional development for interested Optima Ed teachers who want to share this with their students. To that end, I will be doing a short presentation for the Optima Ed staff at one of their faculty meetings in mid-November and, once we have an idea about how many educators want to do the workshop, will roll out the full seminar for those teachers in the early weeks of January 2026.
After more than a year of building relationships and seeking schools and/or districts that want to partner with ABE, these two meetings with Optima Ed have me feeling excited about what’s to come. If these initial rollouts with Optima Ed and the CyberFlorida webinar create a buzz, hopefully, this will lead to more educators getting involved all across Florida.
As always, stay tuned for our next update, where we will have more great news to share as well as pics of our first delivery of the shortened seminar at the CyberFlorida webinar!
