Home of Innovation & Creativity
About: Since 1893, TMI remains a leader of innovation and design thinking – an approach to learning and serving, reflected in our Episcopal roots, that develops academically-prepared and empathetic leaders to their fullest potential. The Walker Innovation Center will provide our community with dedicated space where our commitment to educating servant leaders comes to life. The student-driven projects that happen here will impact the world. At the Walker Innovation Center, we bring the future to our students.
The Walker Innovation Center is a place where students learn skills, a framework for innovation, and how to apply knowledge across disciplines. So that students can explore and solve real-world problems that they are passionate about, with lasting impact in both local and global communities.
August 2, 2019 – Since 1893, TMI Episcopal has been a leader in education. Anticipating 21st century needs, we have embraced Innovation and Design (I&D) as an exciting, forward-thinking approach to preparing our students for a fast-paced, rapidly changing future.
Based on design thinking – an approach to learning and serving that reflects our Episcopal roots – we’re already implementing I&D across academic disciplines. Our students are learning to solve real-world problems, using the skills employers look for: quick thinking, creativity and the ability to work collaboratively.
To remain at the forefront of this approach, TMI is already enhancing and expanding our I&D offerings in every classroom with…
- More courses at all grade levels to serve as a foundation in I&D
- Teacher training to use this mindset throughout the curriculum
- A new faculty member, Justin Kutscherousky, to serve as Innovation and Design teacher/coordinator
As committed as TMI is to I&D, we also need a dedicated space for students to learn and apply these tools. That’s why we are building the Walker Innovation Center – a flexible, purpose-built place where student-driven projects will come to life as we train the next generation of servant leaders to make a difference throughout their lives.
The Walker Innovation Center is funded through a Major Gifts Campaign led by Stephen E. Walker, a longtime TMI Board of Governors member, parent of TMI alumni, and TMI grandparent. Thanks to the generosity and foresight of Mr. Walker and his wife, Debra, along with gifts and pledges from Don Elliott ’63, the Neiman Family, the Harthan Family, the Mosis Family, Harriet & David Oppenheimer ’67, and Julia & Brett Grossman, construction will start this fall and completion is expected in time for the 2020-2021 school year.
While we will be moving some classes into the new building in 2020, we will keep all the best parts of a traditional TMI education: small classes, character education and leadership training. TMI’s commitment to Innovation and Design is not just a few courses but a way of thinking, a framework in which students can explore what they are most passionate about, so that their life’s work – starting here – may have a lasting impact on their communities.
Please join us in celebrating this milestone in TMI’s history at the Walker Innovation Center groundbreaking ceremony, to be held at 9:40 a.m., Thursday, September 19.
