Hey, help shape the Podcast! To keep improving the podcast, we’d love to know a little more about you. We’ve created a quick 2-question survey that takes about 10 seconds. As a thank you, you’ll go into the draw to win a $100 prize from July, the incredible luggage company (drawn on April 30). 👉 Complete the survey: https://forms.gle/nK52PuGAdpQtBmjB9 What happens when school doesn’t quite fit you, but life beyond it opens up something bigger? In this episode of More Than a Score, we sit down with Lael Stone: speaker, educator, author, entrepreneur, parent, and founder of an school. It's a great, honest conversation about courage, connection, and redefining success. Lael reflects on leaving school without being overly concerned by her score, travelling overseas alone at 17, starting businesses before she had everything figured out, and building a life guided less by convention and more by purpose, talents, passion, and lived experiences. This is a conversation about what happens when young people are given permission to explore, when adults choose connection over judgment, and when success is measured by more than grades, qualifications, or a neat linear path. It’s also a deeply practical episode for parents and educators. Lael shares thoughtful insights on how young people ask for help, why vulnerability matters, how trust is built, and what it looks like for adults to become safe people in a young person’s world. If you’ve ever worried that you or your child don’t quite fit the traditional mould, this episode is a powerful reminder: there are many ways to learn, grow, and build a meaningful life. What You’ll Hear: - Why Lael never saw her school score as the thing that would define her future - What young people can carry when they grow up feeling “not smart” in a traditional system - The teacher who changed her life by telling her to “write about what you love” - Why travel, exploration, and lived experience became a different kind of education - The two qualities Lael credits most for her journey: courage and passion - Why she believes nothing is wasted, even when things do not work out as planned - How play can offer clues about purpose, identity, and future pathways - What stops many young people from asking for help, and how adults can lower that barrier - Why safe, non-judgmental adults matter so much in schools, families, and communities - What Lael has learned from creating a school built around connection, creativity, and emotional safety It's a powerful reminder for parents and educators: success is bigger than a score, and support often starts with how we make people feel Listen in for a conversation that will get you thinking more deeply about success, trust the longer path, and remember that who you are becoming matters more than any single result . Know someone who'd be perfect for the pod? Get in touch with us at morethanascorepod@gmail.com.
