Syrian born Saeed Arida is the co-founder (along with Saba Ghole and David Wang) of NuVu High School in Cambridge, MA,  NuVu Summer program (at MIT and NuVu High School), and their globally focused sister organization, NuVuX. In this two part series, we talk with Saeed about the early days of NuVu, and discover the birth of NuVu’s 100% project based learning.

Where did the idea for NuVu High School originate?

The idea really started with an eighth grader who did not want to go to school anymore. I met his dad through some connections while I was at MIT earning my PhD in Computational Design (‘10).  The father was talking to me about all of the activities that his son loved to engage with. The two of us came up with the idea to have his son come with me to MIT for a few hours every week to work on a project together.

The first project that we started working on was to design a perfect skipping stone, because he wanted to break the record for how many skips he could do. Rather than jumping into designing the stone itself, we needed to design a machine that would throw the stone — so we could consistently throw the stone the same way, with the same parameters each time, for proper testing.

After three months of iterating on the first prototype, we had a functioning machine that could throw a stone. During that process, the student learned so many skills such as how to brainstorm ideas, iterate, and prototype. He also learned many technical skills about motors, Arduinos, and electricity. During this process of designing the machine with the student, it became so obvious to me that when students have the opportunity to work on exciting projects like this, they feel more invested and engaged in their learning.

At the time, I was pursuing my PhD in the Design Computation Group at MIT, where my research focused on extending the studio pedagogy beyond the traditional confines of architecture schools. That research, combined with my experience working with that particular student, gave me the initial spark to start NuVu. Along with Saba and David, we began to ask ourselves: how can studio pedagogy serve as the foundation for a project-based learning environment that deeply engages students in their learning?

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What made that initial idea turn into reality?

Building on my incredible experience with the eighth grader, it became clear that there was tremendous potential in working with students in a project based setting. That same student had a brother who attended Beaver Country Day School, which eventually led me to connect with the school’s leadership which included Peter Hutton, who was Head of School at the time. Together, we began exploring how to expand this concept of a creative, hands-on learning environment to make it accessible to more students.

After numerous brainstorming sessions with Beaver’s leadership team, we came up with what felt like a wild idea at the time: every trimester, we would select 20 Beaver students, transport them to a location near MIT, and immerse them in a three-month innovation program. This “innovation training” was designed to engage students in a deeply creative and project-based environment.

Before fully committing to the project, Beaver decided to test the idea with a pilot program involving five of their seniors during the spring term. This was a low-risk approach, as these students had already completed their graduation requirements, and the program would simply be an added bonus to their high school experience.

During that time, the students worked on some incredible projects in collaboration with a few of my PhD colleagues at MIT. For instance, we explored energy-related projects, developed surveillance systems using cameras attached to helium balloons to survey different parts of the city, and built interactive music machines.

The key takeaway from this pilot program was the students’ level of engagement—they were genuinely excited about learning and passionate about the projects they worked on. Additionally, Beaver received positive feedback from colleges, highlighting how a program like this could be a significant advantage for students during the college admissions process.

By the end of the pilot, we had gathered enough evidence to show that this approach could be incredibly impactful for students, paving the way for us to move forward with the full program. In Fall 2010, we officially launched the first program with 20 Beaver students, and that marked the beginning of NuVu.

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As your teaching methods were refined with this early group (in the pilot program), what were the next steps for NuVu?

First, we needed to find a space around MIT to host the first cohort of Beaver students. Luckily, the architectural school at MIT had an extra space in Kendall Square they didn’t need that we were able to sublease. With space secured, we started partnering with some creative people to come and work with our students. Rather than opting for permanent staff, we wanted to bring in different inspiring experts, based on a theme, to work with our students every trimester - we called them “Coaches”. One of those early coaches was Raghava KK. Saba had watched a recent TED talk of his that had garnered millions of views. His unique way of engaging youth through storytelling had captured her attention and she decided to invite him to teach. We knew it was a long shot. Luckily Raghava saw her invitation and was extremely excited by the educational model we had created. Raghava ended up teaching more than 10 amazing studios with us over the years, but that first studio called “Picture This” will always have a special place in my heart.

Our initial plan was to form partnerships with schools other than Beaver but that proved hard early on. At the same time, individual students from other schools started attending NuVu and a few chose to stay beyond the trimester limit we had initially envisioned. Slowly the number of those kids that stayed kept increasing, and we found ourselves in a situation where those kids were graduating from NuVu with an “unofficial” high school diploma. We were excited to adapt to this new reality but it took us a few years to start thinking of NuVu as a full high school.

As we worked with students over multiple years, it became increasingly clear that the studio pedagogy is even more effective when experienced over a longer period of time. The studio model stands apart from traditional school settings because it shifts the focus back onto students and their ideas. When students encounter the studio experience for the first time, their instinct is often to create a solution as quickly as possible. Traditional education often rewards speed in finding solutions, but that’s not how the studio works. In a studio, learning happens through an iterative process that encourages students to take risks and grow from each iteration. We always tell our students to take the scenic route during this process!

Another thing we discovered about the studio pedagogy is its transformative power. When students immerse themselves in this process every day for months, something changes in them. They become engaged, confident, and creative thinkers who are unafraid to tackle any challenge they encounter. They learn that they don’t have to solve the problem on day one—they just need a seed of an idea and the trust that the process will guide them to an exciting outcome. Over time, they stop resisting feedback from their coaches and start actively seeking it, not only from coaches but from others as well.

Can you share what has evolved now that NuVu High School is a true, independent high school?

Much of what we do has remained unchanged. Our studio model—where the students are given a problem brief and work in collaboration with their team, under the supervision of their coaches to produce a project at the end—remains. This is a testament to the power of the studio model and how effective it is.

One significant evolution in our program has been the introduction of the Open Innovation session, which has been a game-changer for many of our students from a pedagogical standpoint. Each term, students typically participate in two studio experiences where they respond to prompts provided by their coaches. However, during Open Innovation, they have 3 to 4 weeks to create their own prompts. Initially, many students choose to build on projects they’ve worked on before. But as they gain more experience, they begin to generate their own ideas—deciding what they want to work on and what problems they want to solve. This shift toward complete ownership of the process has been transformative, helping students develop entrepreneurial skills that are invaluable in their growth as creative thinkers and problem-solvers.

In terms of staffing, we needed to provide continuity for these students, so bringing different people every trimester proved unsustainable. We started hiring permanent coaches to work with our students. These coaches came from all sorts of backgrounds like design, architecture, robotics, gaming, etc. They were also able to form strong connections with our students and guide them through a 4-year program.

We now graduate around 15 students each year, which means having a robust college counseling process is essential. Since NuVu is very different from other schools, we need to make sure colleges understand what NuVu is all about. Over the past few years, it’s been exciting to see that most of our students have been accepted into their top college choices, even though the work they’ve done at NuVu is uniquely different from what’s typically seen at other schools.

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Look for Part II of the Origins of NuVu through our Q&A with Saeed Arida next month. For a timeline of NuVu High School, click here!