Opportunity Thrive was established in 2017 to prepare teachers to be resilient and manage stress through the use of mindfulness practices. It is part of our local stakeholder capitalism system and receives funding through the Ottawa Community School Network (OCSN). From analyzing their literature, my take is that Opportunity Thrive encourages teachers to keep working toward a mission of implementing collectivist principles into schools while remaining calm when outsiders challenge ideas.
According to the website,
“Opportunity Thrive transforms education by transforming one educator at a time.”
“Our Heart: The heart of Opportunity Thrive is in the word thrive. We desire to see individuals, organizations, and communities flourish and grow; we believe that growth requires intentionality and care. If individuals and organizations invest in the internal work, they will see greater external results.”
To fully appreciate these statements, it is important to understand the latest definition of the words thrive, resilience, and work. Thrive in this context means collectivism. In other words, the more a group or system is thriving, the greater the number of socialist principles that have been adopted. When referring to “work” or “internal work”, according to the latest definition, this means implementing. Therefore, this statement is saying they are, through “intentionality,” implementing collectivist principles, and Opportunity Thrive is teaching teachers how to stay the course even if the public resists.
“Our Mission: Our mission is to help professionals thrive in both work and life. In particular, our passion is in helping educators build resiliency, self-efficacy, and emotional regulation, so they can create thriving classrooms that are equipped to meet the ever-changing needs of students.”
Opportunity Thrive provides teaching on anti-racism, restorative practices, diversity, inclusion and equity, belonging, social emotional learning, and mindfulness.
According to the graphic on organization stress, the absence of fairness, conflicting values, and breakdown of the community are all issues which contribute to workplace stress. This indicates stress (for teachers or those pushing collectivism) is caused when people reject collectivist principles being implemented by the “community.”
In addition to teaching teachers to be resilient in working to implement collectivist principles, Opportunity Thrive has interesting funding, timing of creation, and community connections. Three notable events occurred in 2017.
Opportunity Thrive was created
The Ottawa County School Network (OCSN) was created
Randy Schipper (father-in-law of Opportunity Thrive creator Rebekah Schipper) was elected to the OAISD board
Opportunity Thrive is funded through OCSN, and was created in 2017 by Rebekah Schipper the Executive Director.
In 2023, Randy Schipper was re-elected to the OAISD board and Rebekah Schipper relentlessly campaigned on his behalf. In addition to advocating for her father-in-law through the activist Ottawa Objects political group, she made false statements about two of the other candidates, claiming they were supported by Ottawa Impact. Ottawa Impact has informed us that they were not involved in the campaign for OAISD board members.
As citizens, we must question where our vast tax dollars are flowing, and the curious relationships between government, industry, and non-profits. In addition, we must ensure we clearly understand the mission and objectives of stakeholders who are beneficiaries of our tax dollars, and ask ourselves if we really want the services they are providing.