Here’s your chance to build a school that is different.
Unique opportunity
Two years of training, connections, and resources to help you own your vision and see it through.
Led by charter school founders
We don’t pretend to know what it’s like to found a school – we’ve done it and so have our friends.
Professional compensation
Create something meaningful while earning $125,000 per year plus health benefits for two years.
We’re not waiting for solutions. We’re creating them.
One state, two realities
High-income districts
VS
Low-income districts
The facts are clear – and startling
It's time to own it
Put your superpowers (and superfriends) to work
Harness your unique talents and assemble your own amazing team.
Bring your vision to life
Learn from the best and learn how to deliver your best.
Give families the school they want and deserve
You have unreasonably high standards of excellence and equity. So do our families.
You put in the work. We put in the work.
Be the first one in and the last one out. We will be waiting at the door.
Are you ready to create a real legacy?
Create an enduring school and organization
Great schools serve the whole kid. Great schools serve the community. Great schools attract armies of talent. Great schools balance their budget. Great schools transcend the founders. Great schools become great organizations that endure.
Meet the needs of the whole kid
Reading matters. Math matters. Graduation matters. But so do friends and sports and mental health and recess and families. Great schools don’t cherry pick parts of kids. They take the whole kid, arms wide open.
Set up for success and successors
Learn from leaders and schools that have done the work. Year after year after year. Learn how to think and lead in decades, not weeks. Learn how to build your school’s future success and team today.
Real impact on thousands of kids and adults
This is real. Thousands of kids and adults are transformed by great schools that make it and endure. Try to find a better opportunity to make that much meaning. Seriously, try.
Fellowship Team
Zachary McComsey
FOUNDER & CEO
Zach is a graduate of Colorado Christian University and Harvard Divinity School. After completing Fellowships at El Pomar Foundation and BES, he founded Atlas Preparatory School. Zach has also led private foundations and founded the Legacy Institute in 2017.
Antonio Rosendo
PARTNER
Antonio Rosendo is a graduate of Colorado College and the University of Denver. He has worked as a teacher, higher education admission officer, and co-founder of Atlas Preparatory School. Tony has also led private foundations and founded Spur Philanthropy.
Valerie McCormick
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Valerie McCormick holds multiple degrees from the University of Colorado. Her experience in education includes work as a teacher, principal, and district-level curriculum director. Valerie is a leading expert in instructional quality and education technology.
Dan Ajamian
Fellow
Dan is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as a teacher, academic dean, head of school and co-founder of an award-winning high school. Dan is creating a classical K-8 school in Colorado Springs opening in August 2026.
Loren Koszowski
Fellow
Loren is a graduate of the University of Colorado, Harvard, and High Tech High. Her experience includes teaching, social-emotional learning, and instructional coaching. Loren is creating a project-based K-8 school in Colorado Springs opening in August 2026.
What it takes to build something different
Level 5 Leadership
Excellent leaders excel in a way that others struggle to replicate. Exceptional leaders excel in a way that others struggle not to exceed. (Thanks Good to Great.)
Personal Humility
Ego, ambition, talent. Check. Check. Check. Turn’s out you are human. Throw a cape on that talent and put the school first, even when it hurts a lot. That’s superhuman.
Professional Resolve
Anyone ever out worked you? Anyone ever tried harder? Anyone cared more? If these questions offend you, welcome to the club.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
Starting something from nothing is a mess. Squiggly lines and blank sheets of paper. If you get that and want that, we get you and want you.
Dedication to Colorado
This is not remote work. Or hybrid work. Or an ocean named zoom. This is real kids and real adults in a real building. All day everyday. Address, Colorado.
Endurance
Great schools take 10+ years to plan, open, develop, and sustain. Long-term commitments are terrifying for most. They are mandatory for the few. We are looking for the few.
TRAIN WITH THE BEST. BECOME YOUR BEST.
Two Years of Paid Training and Support
Fellowship training combines seeing the best schools, learning from the best leaders, doing your best work, and networking with your community. Training is done in four week rotations: Visit the best schools in the country. Learn practical skills directly from the best leaders in the country. Do the work of writing your charter and planning your school. And network, network, network.
What you'll be doing each month:
- Week #1: National School Visits
- Week #2: Fundamental Skill Classes
- Week #3: National Expert Sessions
- Week #4: Real Work + Networking
The Legacy Fellowship is a paid two year training program for education leaders and entrepreneurs interested in starting a new charter school in Colorado. Fellows work full time to open a new school that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, and offers an educational model serving the whole student.
The Legacy Fellowship is run by the Legacy Institute (www.startaschool.org), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing education and community development in Colorado.
Not necessarily. While experience and expertise in the classroom is certainly helpful, there is so much more involved in designing and building an excellent new school. The Legacy Fellowship is seeking candidates who have a depth of leadership experience in a variety of areas.
The Legacy Fellowship is a full-time commitment and candidates should be ready to move to, and commit to, a Colorado community for a minimum of 10+ years. Training is in-person all day, every day for two years (minus four vacation weeks each year).
Applying for the Legacy fellowship is a straightforward process that includes an application, a virtual interview, and an in-person interview with Legacy staff.
Fellows make $125,000 per year in salary plus health, vision, and dental benefits.
No. The Legacy Fellowship is funded and designed to impact kids and families in the Colorado.
With over 300 days of sunshine and the mountains out our back door, Colorado a lot to offer. Learn more about living and playing in our state using the resources below:
Download the full 20-page paper “The Other Colorado Springs” written by Dr. Lance Bolton, president of Pikes Peak State College.
