Putting Students at the Center of the System

Featuring Virgel Hammonds —
Co-CEO of FullScale

Virgel Hammonds is the Chief Executive Officer (formerly President & CEO) of the Aurora Institute, now unified with The Learning Accelerator to become FullScale. He leads a national movement to transform K–12 education into learner‑centered systems, where all students have access to high‑quality, personalized learning.

Virgel holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and a Master of Education from Fresno Pacific University. His professional journey spans roles from tutor and teacher to principal and superintendent. Notably, as a principal at Lindsay Unified School District in California, serving entirely low‑income students, he championed mastery-based learning models where students earned proficiency, not grades. As superintendent of RSU 2 in Maine, he led five communities to ensure that every student met standards through personalized curriculum systems.

Hammonds joined the Aurora Institute as CEO effective January 29, 2024, after serving as Chief Learning Officer at KnowledgeWorks and earlier as Board Chair of Aurora. His appointment followed an extensive national search and reflects his two decades of experience working alongside young people, educators, administrators, communities, and policymakers. At KnowledgeWorks, he forged national partnerships and developed tools to support districts in implementing learner-centered, competency-based learning strategies.

Virgel's advocacy focuses on dismantling inequitable education structures through personalized learning, mastery models, and system redesign. He has driven initiatives that blend policy, research, and on-the-ground practice, such as evaluating Washington State’s Mastery-Based Learning Collaborative, which showed increased student engagement, improved school climate, and culturally responsive teaching implementation. Through Aurora, he convenes educators and policymakers to share best practices, promote policy changes, and accelerate innovation across states and districts.

Beyond his executive role, Virgel serves on numerous boards and advisory councils including PBLWorks, Jobs for Maine Graduates, CompetencyWorks Advisory Board, Mastery Transcript Consortium, Innovation Lab Network, and iNACOL Board (now part of FullScale). These roles amplify his influence in shaping systems that prioritize equity, mastery, and learner agency.

Under Virgel’s stewardship, Aurora Institute (now FullScale) has expanded its reach as a national convener and thought leader, pushing for transformative policy and practice in personalized learning. His decade-plus career reflects a powerful legacy: inspiring educators, redesigning systems to serve underserved students, and fostering environments in which all learners can succeed.

Harvesting Hope Through Indigenous Wisdom

Featuring Shannon Francis - Executive director of Spirit of The Sun 

Shannon Francis leads Spirit of the Sun, an Indigenous women‑led nonprofit based in Denver, working to empower Native youth and communities through sustainable agriculture, traditional ecological knowledge, and cultural resilience.

Shannon is both Hopi (from Kykotsmovi, Arizona) and Dineh (Navajo from Shiprock, New Mexico), born into the Towering House clan and Red Running Through the Water clan, with ancestral ties to Massau’, Bear, Sand, and Snake clans. She descends from twelve generations of seed keepers, ethnobotanists, and earth caretakers. Rooted in this legacy, she became a certified Permaculture Design Instructor, blending Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with innovative science to promote land stewardship and food justice 

As Executive Director of Spirit of the Sun since at least the early 2020s, Shannon has woven her background and permaculture expertise into programs that reconnect Native youth and elders with their ancestral traditions and the lan. Her leadership is anchored in reciprocity and intergenerational healing, developing educational programs in sustainable farming, food sovereignty, permaculture, and wellness. Under her guidance, Spirit of the Sun has implemented impactful initiatives such as Indigenous Permaculture Community Gardens in partnership with Four Winds American Indian Council and educational outreach across Colorado urban and reservation communities.

Shannon’s advocacy centers on food justice, environmental health, Indigenous healing, and youth empowerment. She has trained and inspired community members through gardening workshops, garden expansion projects, and leadership development activities. She has served on the Four Winds Council (as Board Chair) and the leadership council for American Indian Movement of Colorado (AIM), strengthening ties between community-based initiatives and broader Indigenous organizing networks. Spirit of the Sun and Shannon have garnered recognition for their impact, including the 2020 Human Rights Award from Youth Celebrate Diversity and the 2023 “From Action to Nourishment” Award from Denver Food Rescue. Shannon herself was honored with the Justin B. Willie Humanitarian Award (2014, Navajo Nation) and the Cesar E. Chavez Female Leadership Award (2015) for her pioneering work in Indigenous gardening and community-building.

Beyond Spirit of the Sun, Shannon is a sought-after educator and speaker at national and regional forums, including Bioneers, White Earth Indigenous Farming Conference, Dartmouth College, Denver Green Festivals, and the National Environmental Education Association conferences. In 2023, she was named a Livingston Fellow through the Bonfils Stanton Foundation and was selected as the 2025 Career Accelerator award recipient by the Colorado Water Congress, recognizing her leadership at the nexus of food justice, environmental resilience, and Indigenous community health.

Shannon Francis’s leadership has elevated Spirit of the Sun into a beacon of cultural resilience and Indigenous environmental justice in Colorado. Her stewardship through community gardens, youth empowerment, and healing-centered permaculture work has created intergenerational impact, bridging ancestral knowledge and modern practice. Her legacy is one of reviving ancestral connections, restoring ecological relationships, and empowering Indigenous communities to heal and thrive well into the future.