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Save The Date! July 2nd - 4th 2026
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Den Talks - The Great School Debate
Saturday July 4, 2026 9:45am - 11:15am PDT
Imagine High - Room 217
What happens when a room full of educators has to design a school together... while passionately arguing for ideas they may not actually believe?

In this highly participatory Den Talk, attendees will take part in a playful “turncoat” debate experience where they’ll be randomly assigned opposing sides of foundational educational issues. But there’s a twist: midway through each debate, participants must physically switch sides and argue the opposite perspective.

Facilitated by members of the Classmate team, this session blends educational philosophy, improvisation, and structured debate into an experience that is equal parts thoughtful, funny, and unexpectedly revealing. Participants will help “found” a fictional school together, gradually shaping its culture and values through a series of live debates.

This is not a sit-and-listen session. Participants will be invited to speak, move, debate, improvise, reflect, and inhabit perspectives beyond their own in a safe, playful environment.
Rather than trying to arrive at the “correct” answers about education, this Den Talk explores the tensions underneath school design and what those tensions reveal about trust, authority, creativity, structure, and learning itself.
Speakers
avatar for Jani Mitanovski

Jani Mitanovski

School Navigator, Classmate
Jani Mitanovski is the CEO and co-founder of Classmate, a Vancouver-based organization helping educators reimagine how students learn and express their ideas. As a teenager who immigrated to Canada at the start of high school, Jani knows firsthand that creative expression — through... Read More →
avatar for Nick Evans

Nick Evans

Team Facilitator, Classmate
Nick is the Team Facilitator at Classmate, where he collaborates closely with schools and the Classmate team to design creative learning experiences, reflective processes, and collaborative projects. His work often lives at the intersection of facilitation, team culture, experience... Read More →
avatar for Jon Yergatian

Jon Yergatian

Systems Navigator, Classmate

Jon is the Systems Navigator at Classmate. He spends a lot of time thinking about the systems we work within, both at Classmate and at schools. He's deeply interested in organizational design — why hierarchies form, what purpose they actually serve, and how we might transform them... Read More →
Saturday July 4, 2026 9:45am - 11:15am PDT
Imagine High - Room 217
  Workshops & Den Talks
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