'Top Gun' with Stacey Waxtan and Kevin Stoller

Few movies capture the essence of leadership, teamwork, and adaptability quite like Top Gun.

While it’s a high-octane film about elite fighter pilots pushing their limits, the lessons it offers extend far beyond the cockpit—straight into the world of education. Just like Maverick and his fellow aviators must embrace continuous learning, mentorship, and resilience, educators and school leaders face the challenge of preparing students for an ever-evolving future.

In this review, we’ll break down the powerful parallels between Top Gun and education, exploring what it means to foster a high-performance learning environment where every student can take flight.

 

Takeaways:

• Just like Top Gun pilots constantly train and refine their skills, educators must embrace ongoing professional development to adapt to new teaching methods, technologies, and student needs.
• Maverick learns from his instructors and teammates, just as students benefit from strong teacher-student relationships. Great educators inspire, challenge, and support students to reach their full potential.
• While Top Gun pilots start as fierce competitors, they quickly realize success depends on working together. In education, collaboration among teachers, administrators, and students creates the best learning environments.

 

About Stacey Waxtan:

Stacey tells her client’s story with every selection, building a user experience with intention, form, and delight. A New York City native with a touch of Minnesota nice, she leads the HUNT Interiors Team with style and grace, developing concepts with client direction and overarching themes. Stacey orchestrates collaboration across disciplines, champions new technologies, and supports a true team environment that celebrates the best ideas.

As inspiration is paramount to design, Stacey has traveled to conferences and art exhibits in Paris, Milan, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, and across the United States. Mentoring high school and college students, Stacey strives to inspire the next generation of designers and architects to lead with a design story, and always from the perspective of the end user.

Stacey is passionate about community building and art in public spaces. She's a member of AIA, serves as Board Member on the Community Design Center of Rochester, is a repeat team member [and runway model] in the AIA Rochester Product Runway Fashion Show, and practices ballet whenever possible.

 

 

FF&E Procurement Revisionism Series

• Episode 1: Seeing Furniture as an Active Participant in the Learning Environment
• Episode 2: How to Select the Right Solution and Ensure Buy-In
• Episode 3: Furniture Procurement Doesn't Have to Be Hard or Scary

 

What is The End of Average Concept? 

 

 

Learn More About HUNT EAS:

Website: https://www.hunt-eas.com/

 

 

 

Connect with Stacey Waxtan:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacey-veolette-waxtan-87503a6/

 

Connect with host, Kevin Stoller:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinstoller/

 

 

Episode 225 of the Better Learning Podcast

Kevin Stoller is the host of the Better Learning Podcast and Co-Founder of Kay-Twelve, a national leader for educational furniture. Learn more about creating better learning environments at www.Kay-Twelve.com.

 

 

For more information on our partners:

Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) - https://www.a4le.org/

Education Leaders' Organization - https://www.ed-leaders.org/

Second Class Foundation - https://secondclassfoundation.org/

EDmarket - https://www.edmarket.org/

Catapult @ Penn GSE - https://catapult.gse.upenn.edu/

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