The Story Behind 321 Catapult
321 Catapult is working to build a warm, welcoming place where entrepreneurs and students can learn from each other.
Introducing 321 Catapult
We are motivated primarily by the great deal of evidence illustrating that students can make great leaps in their understanding of their creative and leadership abilities through one-on-one attention from skilled tutors and entrepreneurs working in support of classroom instructors. 321 Catapult is dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Beginning in January 2009, we provide drop-in tutoring, field trips, and in-schools tutoring, help for English language learners, and assistance with student publications. All of our free programs seek to strengthen each student’s power to express ideas effectively, creatively, confidently, and in his or her individual voice.
The Origin of 321 Catapult
321 Catapult is inspired by a tutoring center founded by Bay Area writer Dave Eggers that is run by a small regular staff along with hundreds of volunteers and professionals. The center offers adult writing workshops, scholarships, drop-in tutoring for students, and in-classroom visits, among other educational activities. The above programs are all free, and are funded by various efforts, including adult seminars run in the evenings, where panels of established writers discuss topics such as writing and publishing a novel, or creating your own magazine. Other fundraising efforts include sponsored mustache-growing contests, an annual comedy night.
The Pirate Store
The tutoring center founded by Eggers runs San Francisco’s “only independent pirate supply store.” Located in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District, the store is the front entrance of the tutoring center and has the look and feel of an authentic pirate shop. The store sells pirate clothing, eye patches, compasses, spyglasses, pirate dice, skull flags, and secret treasures. It features handmade signs, scattered around the store, offering tongue-in-cheek wisdom, such as “Uses for Lard” (#5: “Lard Fights”) and “Guidelines for New Shipmates” (#4: “No forgetting to swab”).
Project Based Learning
The tutoring programs at the San Francisco tutoring center almost always end with a finished product, such as a newspaper, a book, or a film. This teaching model, known as project-based learning, encourages students to collaborate and to make creative decisions, and gives them ownership over the learning process. Working toward a goal, the students are inspired to revise until their work is perfect. They leave with new skills and a newfound passion for writing. And then they come back. Maybe they’ll make a movie, or polish a college-application essay. We offer all of the above services for free serving families who could not otherwise afford the level of instruction their children receive.
The Net Effect
The tutoring center founded by Dave Eggers is the sole inspiration for 321 Catapult. Founded by Anthony Deloso in early 2008, 321 Catapult was envisioned after Deloso flew from Raleigh, North Carolina to San Francisco, California and experienced the pirate store and the tutoring center first hand. Deloso met with Eggers in the downtown tutoring center and they discussed how Deloso could build something similar, but with resources devoted to entrepreneurship in tandem with writing.
Eggers supported the idea and 321 Catapult was born.
