Lissette Rojas is the founder of Trix and Trax, a programme in Venezuela that helps kids discover their talents in arts, music, dance, and sports. Kids become “Super Heroes” and teach their talents to their peers, motivating them to develop their talent more and helping foster communication and teamwork skills.
Trix and Trax Programme
The programme started as a series of events but has now been adapted so that it can be integrated into a school subject. The programme runs primarily in Venezuela and Chile, and has even been piloted in Finland, demonstrating its scalability.
"Being in the Academy every year is always fun. I see it as an opportunity to learn what is going on around the world and to understand different ways to help kids learn because that is our inspiration and motivation."
She has also been part of the HundrED community since 2017 and has reviewed the Global Collection as an Academy member 7 times. As an innovator, she finds that HundrED has been a great ally and reinforcement in the confidence of the work that they are doing, giving them reassurance that they are on the right path.
“Being in the Academy every year is always fun. I see it as an opportunity to learn what is going on around the world and to understand different ways to help kids learn because that is our inspiration and motivation. To keep kids engaged and have the tools to flourish and be happy," she explains.
Lissette Rojas, Lasse Leponiemi, and Ivonne Blanco at HundrED Innovation Summit 2018
Having reviewed innovations over such a long period of time, she noted the way that the focus of the collections have been changing. At the start, she noticed that the innovations were inspiring or cool new practices that drew attention. Over time, it started to shift towards a more holistic approach, selecting innovations that support the development of the whole child. During the pandemic, we were more focused on innovations that could respond to crises, with an emphasis on whether it could be transferred online. As the world rapidly changes, important questions that emerged include whether the innovations are sustainable and whether they can stay relevant.
Now, with the rise of artificial intelligence, Lissette sees an urgent need to return the focus to the human. “Schools need to rethink how they are teaching. It is so easy to know about concepts, but we must prioritize teaching children how to apply those theories and concepts to real life solutions. We need to focus more on the human being—discovering your inner genius, your capabilities, what you really like, and what you enjoy doing.”
Lissette’s hope for the future of education is that it is human-centered. She dreams of a world where schools are not just places that students go for grades, but a place where students can learn, grow, and create. She hopes that education can support students to have the drive and curiosity to learn and do things.
After all these years of reviewing innovations, several of them remain memorable for Lissette. Her absolute favourite is Roots of Empathy. She loves how simple but effective it is - bringing in a baby into the classroom to teach children about empathy. She also loves Skills Builder Partnership Education and the way that they have clearly defined exercises to develop skills. She also uses Skills Builder as a framework with her students to help understand and monitor their skills. Eco-Schools is another great innovation that integrates climate education into curricula, allowing for project-based experiential learning. From this year’s reviews, Rethinking School stood out to her - bringing schools in the UK together to work collaboratively on redesigning curriculum, assessment, leadership and culture.
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Header Photo: Lissette Rojas and students in Finland piloting Trix and Trax
