Are the things we value most in schools designed to empower our students for a successful future or are they based primarily on the nostalgia of our past? Should our focus be to prepare students for state and national standardized tests that assess the knowledge and skills which machines are increasingly automating for us? Or instead, should our focus be to prepare students for life by developing essential skills like communication, collaboration, and creativity as they tackle local issues applicable to them? Cory Henwood, education innovator and founder of @LaunchHS, proposes updates to our traditional educational values to help us avoid this tragic automation of education by inviting us to empower students and teachers as we place them at the center of our designs for a much more relevant and personalized education model. Cory Henwood is the Innovative Teaching and Learning Coordinator at Iron County School District and is the founding designer of Launch High School, a personalized, competency-based school focused on projects with local industry partners. Cory's passion for educational reform and the empowerment of teachers and students has guided his work in both Canada and the US as a principal, instructional coach, consultant, and math teacher. He has high hopes for the future of education and is driven to provide a rich and relevant educational experience tailored for each student, including his four little ones, Skylee(7), Sophee(5), Sydnee(4), and Dawson(2). This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx