Our friends over at New Leaf Initiative have a cool new series of workshops to help members of our community “learn the skills you most need to do the work you want” — specifically, skills that aren’t often learned in a classroom. Called “Seed School,” the workshops are broken down into four theme weeks: Connect, Thrive, Design, and Launch.

“We created Seed School to radically improve the training young adults receive to do the work they most want,” wrote New Leaf’s executive director Galen Bernard. “We identified skills that students and graduates say they most need improve and invited facilitators we knew would offer those skills with special flair and depth. No getting talked to for an hour. The model we’re aiming for is to get a new insight, practice it right then, get feedback and refine the skill, then try it again before you leave. Folks should leave the workshops with everything from new mentors to new clarity and confidence.”

The first theme week, Connect, already happened last month, bringing in local innovators like Spud Marshall, Chad Littlefield, and Eli Kariv to talk to Seed Schoolers. The next theme week, Thrive, begins on March 16 with multiple days of workshops. You can sign up to receive more detailed information about the remaining three Seed School weeks here.

All the training workshops are held in New Leaf’s work space on the third floor of the State College Municipal Building, where the organization just celebrated its one-year anniversary in the new space after moving from its smaller digs under Dunkin Donuts. New Leaf was founded in 2010 and acts as a networking and entrepreneurial hub, where innovators work side-by-side on projects to benefit the community. You can read more on New Leaf’s recent growth here.