Roman and Jenny Hardgrave founded the Maryland Curiosity Lab in 2022. They never set out to start a school, but a series of events led them here.

In 2012, Roman helped start an online education venture called

MRU, which is somewhat like Khan Academy, but focused on teaching economics.

In order to build better classroom materials, Roman visited a variety of schools. He took tours of charter schools and startup schools. He visited community learning centers for homeschoolers. He studied what had been tried before and what new technology was being built.

At the same time, Jenny and Roman’s three kids progressed through public schools. Although they started out as curious kindergarteners, they were growing more disengaged by the year.

In addition, Roman was building classroom materials to help students prepare for the economy of tomorrow. One piece of advice stood out above the rest — those who embrace continual learning and exploration will be best able to adapt to an economy that is rapidly evolving due to automation and artificial intelligence. Yet most schools were stunting the traits that enable this type of lifelong learning.

On top of that, after years of studying cognitive science, Roman was disappointed to find that traditional schools violated almost every best practice on how to motivate students, learn concepts, and build resilient and independent thinkers.

Roman and Jenny, like most parents, want to provide their kids with the best opportunity to reach their potential. The traditional model of schooling seemed hopelessly outdated. They set out to find something better.

Through a stroke of luck, Jenny and Roman stumbled upon Acton Academy. Of all the school designs they had explored, Acton stood out above the rest. Acton students were motivated because they owned their education. The structure of the school was steeped in the science of learning. Building the right school culture was first and foremost. Using the Acton Academy Network, Jenny and Roman had a foundation to build a school that would spark curiosity rather than extinguish it.

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