EricChagala.com

Eric J Chagala, EdD

Welcome!

Eric Chagala (Ed.D. Educational Leadership) is the founding principal of the Vista Innovation & Design Academy (VIDA). Eric believes that all kids need a place to matter, that our actions say what we believe about children, and that schools have souls & those souls need to be nurtured.

Eric’s belief in Design Thinking for education is deeply rooted in his dissertation that focused on the critical resiliency of high achieving LatinX youth. This research solidified the knowledge (not just belief) that schools have the power to either defeat or to perpetuate the status-quo of a neighborhood.

Eric has spoken across North America in both workshops & Keynotes about Personalized Learning, Design Thinking, and to talk about what it takes to build a true school culture that will be ripe for innovation.

Eric serves in different capacities to keep challenged with 'boots on the ground' around the most pressing needs facing education today:

Founding Principal of VIDA, a middle school based on Design Thinking, offering a new hope for education in our community.
Faculty for the Graduate School of Education at High Tech High, co-teaching "Leading Innovative Schools."
IDEO Design Council Member for School Re-Tool + Teachers Guild.
Deeper Learning Fellow with DLLF.
Co-Founder of #DesignCamp for Education.
Chief Development Officer for the non-profit Unlocked, Inc.

Eric lives in San Diego with his wife, two daughters and their Golden Retriever.

Research

Eric's doctoral research focused on what, if any patterns could be found amongst high-achieving LatinX youth. The research was conducted at a San Diego-area high school.

Speaking

Eric has had the opportunity to speak to fellow educators about pressing issues in education for the past several years. Eric’s talks are often laced with humor, which cut at the edge of the things everyone thinks about, but will often not say out loud. In addition to speaking to graduate students at most of the major universities in San Diego (UCSD, USD, Pt Loma & CSUSM), his most recent engagements have included:

Community Organization Design: "Homes, Health, Jobs." ReCity Labs, Durham, CA: October 2023 - alongside @kalebrashad
Workshop: "Brainwork & Building Future Ready Students." Jefferson County, KY August 2023.
Workshop: "Tending to the Soul of School," Jefferson County, KY August 2023
Workshop: "Talent by Design," Jefferson County, KY August 2023
Den Talk, Deeper Learning Conference, "From Creativity to Innovation, to Justice" San Diego, CA; March, 2023 -alongside @kalebrashad
Design Workshop Facilitator, Wake County Child Welfare Services + United Way, "Making Monuments" Raleigh, North Carolina; October 2022 - alongside @kalebrashad
Book Club Featured Guest with Learner Centered Collaborative, July 2022 (via Zoom).
Design Workshop, CISC Symposium, "The "Why" of the Work," Monterey, CA; February 2022.
Featured Panelist, Stanford University Institute of Design (d.School), "Masters of Creativity, Education Edition," via Zoom; January 2022.
Featured Panelist, National Council of Urban Education Associations (NCUEA) Fall Conference, "Transforming Teaching and Learning," Hollywood, CA; December 2021.
NoCo IgnitED Workshop, "How Entrepreneurship & Design Thinking Help Students Change the World," Ft Collins, CO; October 2021 - alongside @CRLudwig & @KimKriedeman
Mini-Keynote, Deeper Learning Symposium, "A Traveller's Tale: True Stories of School Transformation & Deeper Learning," Louisville, KY; August 2021.
Design Workshop, Deeper Learning Symposium, "Tending to the Soul of School; Unlocked Design," Jefferson County; August 2021 - alongside @kalebrashad
A New Way Forward: Building a Learner-Centered Future, "Better than Ever: Leveraging Culture, Talent & Design to Make School Better than Ever!" Zoom; May 2020
RTM Spring Congress, "Supercharge Your Career Pathway Perspective," Los Angeles, CA; March 2020
Monterey County Office of Education, "Designing a Culture for Deeper Learning," Monterey, CA; September, 2019 - alongside @kalebrashad
Opening Design Challenge, #DesignCamp Monterey; September 2019 - alongside @kalebrashad
Keynote Experience, "The Role of Identity in Strategic Design," St Louis, MO; September 2019 - alongside @kalebrashad
Lindbergh Schools, "Leading for Creativity," St Louis, MO; September 2019
Keynote Experience, Lindsay Unified School District; "Relevant & Contextualized Learning Experiences" August 2019.
Keynote Experience, Lindsay Unified School District; "Living my Why!" August 2019.
Keynote Experience, Cajon Valley Union School District; "Committee of 100" July 2019.
National School Transformation Conference, Palm Springs, CA; "Change Agent Leadership" July 2019.
Breaking Down Barriers - Building Partnerships in Education Regional Conference, San Diego, CA; "Designing a Career Superhighway" April, 2019.
ASU/GSV, San Diego, CA; Organizational Culture as part of "Change Agent Leadership" April, 2019.
RTM CIO Congress, San Diego, CA; "Building a Career Superhighway: Aligning talent to the demands of the global marketplace" March, 2019.
RTM CIO Congress, San Diego, CA; "Change Agent Leadership: How district and site leaders synergize" March 2019.
Opening Design Challenge, #DesignCamp Kansas City, KS; October, 2018
Opening Design Challenge, #DesignCamp BC; September, 2018 - alongside @kalebrashad
#AMPED British Columbia; September, 2018 - alongside @kalebrashad
NCCSE Tools & Tech Conference, San Diego, CA; "An eye on Design for Personalized Learning" August, 2018
FutureNOW, San Diego, CA; "Culture's Opportunity in the Age of Acceleration" April 2018
Opening Design Challenge, #DesignCamp Monterey; February, 2018 - alongside @kalebrashad.
ShiftEDU, Miami, FL; "Hacking Schools for Innovation" November, 2017 - alongside @kalebrashad.
EdLeader21, Atlanta, GA; "The Power of Human-Centered Design" October, 2017 - alongside @kalebrashad.
Keynote Address, Blue Valley Schools, Kansas City, KS. September, 2017.
FutureNOW Keynote, San Diego, CA; "Design for Innovation" April 2017
Opening Design Challenge, #DesignCamp British Columbia; April 2017 - alongside @kalebrashad.
SxSwEDU, Austin, TX; "Design + Leadership" March 2017
Douglas County Schools PLC Workshops: "Transformational Leadership" January 2017
Douglas County Schools PLC Keynote, Castle Rock, CO; "The Story of VIDA" January 2017
NeverSummer's edOS: A New Operating System for Education, Denver, CO; "Design Labs, Our antidote to buzzwords!" June 2016 - alongside @kalebrashad
ASU-GSV (Global Silicon Valley), San Diego, CA; "A New Hope for Student Engagement" April 2016
SxSwEdu, Austin, Tx; "Designing School Culture" 2016
School Culture Summit, Auburn CA; “Building & Sustaining School Culture” 2014 & 2015
FutureNOW Conference, San Diego CA; “Designing a Culture for Innovation” 2015 & 2016
Create Something Great Think Tank, Douglas County Schools (Colorado); “How to Build a School Culture for Innovation” 2015
Create Something Great Think Tank, Douglas County Schools (Colorado); “Design Thinking in Education” 2015
Math in Common, “Design Thinking in the Content Areas” 2015
San Diego County Achievement Gap Task Force
Guest Panelist: SxSwEDU Qualcomm's Thinkabit Lab & NASA's JPL STEM presentation, March 2015.
Various panelist spots - primary focus on issues of Design Thinking, Trust & Innovation, School Culture and Student Resiliency

Book Launch - Summer 2024!

Core Beliefs for Education

Often times professional educators will present their “Educational Philosophy” for others to read in an effort to get a sense of who and what one stands for, and what the foundation of their decision making stands upon. Often these are lengthy treatise, filled with jargon and catch phrases.

I would like to offer others the fastest way to get to know me as a professional - with my Core Beliefs for education - jargon & rhetoric free:

1) Schools have souls, and those souls need to be nurtured
2) All kids need a place to matter
3) Our actions say what we believe about children
3) Schools have the power to either defeat or perpetuate the status quo of a neighborhood.

Strengths Finder Top 5:

Context
Empathy
Developer
Intellection
Belief

Strong Interest Survey Themes:

Artistic
Enterprising
Social

Personality Type:

ENFP-T (The Sensitive Campaigner)

Awards:

"Innovative Principal of the Year" Classroom of the Future Foundation (CFF), 2020.
"Middle Level Principal of the Year, San Diego & Imperial Counties" Association for California School Administrators (ACSA) Region 18, 2019.
"Inspire Award (Grand Prize)" for VIDA by Classroom of the Future Foundation (CFF), 2017.
"Personalized Learning Award" for VIDA by California School Boards Association (CSBA), 2016.
"Model Middle School Program Award" for VIDA by California School Boards Association (CSBA), 2015.
"Golden Apple Award: Administrator of the Year" Vista Unified School District (VUSD), 2013.
"Dr Chagala Good Character Award" Perpetual Trophy established for Graduating Seniors at Vista High School (VHS), Began 2013.
"Honor V (Hall of Fame)" Vista High School (VHS), 2014.