No Tradeoffs. An evening introducing a new model of school designed for ambitious students who should not have to choose between academic rigor, high performance, wellbeing, and a great childhood.
Join Vail Performance Academy for a launch event featuring Steven Levitt live, virtual opening remarks from Sal Khan, and a group of leaders spanning education, human performance, mental performance, and health.
Reception to follow
Vail, Colorado
Reserve early to join the launch conversation.
A school where students do not have to compromise.
Families are constantly pushed into false tradeoffs: rigor or flexibility, performance or wellbeing, ambition or childhood, elite academics or time to train, recover, and think. Vail Performance Academy was built to reject that premise.
This event introduces a model designed from the ground up for motivated students in grades 5–12 who need a better system — one that aligns advanced academics, human performance, mental performance, health, and real-world development around the student.
What makes VPA different
This is what school should look like when the right people build it together.
A lineup spanning education, economics, leadership, mental performance, human performance, and health — all focused on a single question: what happens when school is finally designed around the student?
Khan World School
Sal will open the evening with virtual remarks on the future of education, mastery-based learning, and why personalized models matter now.
- How AI and mastery can make school more personal and more rigorous.
- Why flexibility should not mean lowering standards.
- Why VPA represents a compelling next step in student-centered design.
Co-author, Freakonomics
Steven will bring a sharp lens to the central question of the night: why do we still accept an outdated education model when better systems are now possible?
- The hidden inefficiencies baked into traditional schooling.
- What incentives shape education — and what needs to change.
- Why new models should be evaluated by outcomes, not tradition.
Amy will guide the conversation, helping connect the broader vision of education reform to the concrete system VPA is building in Vail.
- Moderating the keynote conversation and audience experience.
- Helping frame the stakes for families, students, and the future.
- Keeping the evening focused on what matters most: students.
Mental performance is usually treated as optional. At VPA, it is part of the operating system.
- Why students need explicit training in focus, stress, resilience, and emotional regulation.
- How mental performance supports both learning and competition.
- Why wellbeing and ambition should strengthen each other, not compete.
Kula Sports Performance
Aneurin brings the human performance lens: how students train, recover, build readiness, and sustain long-term growth.
- Why physical development should be integrated into the school week.
- How performance training supports both athletes and non-athletes.
- Why time, energy, and recovery matter as much as talent.
High performance without health is not a system. Dr. O’Brien helps complete the model by grounding excellence in durable wellbeing.
- Why student health should be proactive, not reactive.
- How health, performance, and learning interact every day.
- What long-term student success requires beyond academics alone.
The evening
A concise, high-signal program designed to introduce the model, show why it matters, and let guests connect with the people building it.
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6:00 PMArrivalGuests arrive, settle in, and experience the VPA environment.
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6:10 PMWelcomeOpening framing from VPA on the problem families face and why this school exists.
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6:20 PMVirtual remarks from Sal KhanA short opening message on the future of learning and why mastery matters.
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6:30 PMSteven Levitt keynote conversationLive conversation on the inefficiencies of traditional school and what a better model looks like.
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7:10 PMIntegrated model spotlightMental performance, human performance, and health as part of the VPA system.
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7:30 PMReceptionDrinks, conversation, and time to explore the space and ask questions.
What this event should make clear
- Traditional school asks students to adapt to the system. VPA redesigns the system around the student.
- Two focused hours of personalized academics can outperform long days of seat time when learning is built on mastery and feedback.
- Performance, health, and mental skills are not extras. They shape the quality of both learning and life.
- Students should not have to choose between academic excellence and serious athletic, artistic, or personal ambition.
- VPA is not just a schedule innovation. It is an integrated model for developing capable, healthy, high-agency young people.
Built for families pursuing excellence — in academics, athletics, and life.
This evening is especially relevant for people who care deeply about what school should become over the next decade.
- Parents of ambitious students who need a more flexible and effective education model.
- Student-athlete families balancing training, travel, recovery, and academic goals.
- Investors, donors, and community builders interested in first-of-its-kind school models.
- Educators and advisors who believe student outcomes matter more than seat time.
- Anyone curious about what school looks like when health, performance, and academics are finally aligned.
Come see the school model built for students who should not have to make tradeoffs.
Join us in Vail for an evening introducing Vail Performance Academy, featuring live keynote conversation, virtual remarks from Sal Khan, and the leaders helping build an integrated model for student excellence.