As the new school year begins for us at SOLA, there is one question we always like to ask our team of teachers: “What’s the one thing we wish to teach our children this year?” 

My art director, Maya Murano, likes to answer, “This year, I would like to teach our children to stop saying, 'I can’t.'” 

The word “can’t” is a very powerful four-letter word and it can hinder just as much as it can prohibit. It is a phrase that embodies a child’s worst enemy - unreasonable boundaries. However, there is another four-letter word we like to teach our children at SOLA not to say. And that word is “hate.”

For us at SOLA, we believe hate is the ultimate curse word. We simply don’t believe in it and we feel our children (for the sake of their future and for those around them) will be better without it in their lives.

Sure, we can dislike something. We can dislike anything we choose; that is our right. We can dislike strawberries, dark rain clouds, humidity or certain flavors. We can even choose to dislike how another is treating us.

But don’t choose to hate something or someone. Hate is not an emotion. Hate is a choice. 

When our doors open, I personally have noticed nine out of 10 parents will also use that aforementioned word in a casual conversation with us. It is a safe assumption that at one point in everyone’s life they have said, “I hate this and that!” Attorneys. Scientists. Professors. Even doctors.

So, for us at SOLA the best thing in the world is when we hear our students sweetly reply to that parent, “We don’t use that word here.” 

It’s time to stop hating. Perhaps it’s even time we stop acknowledging the word itself. It’s time to focus on happiness. 

SOLA takes a proactive way towards happiness by partaking in indoor and outdoor activities, from organized outdoor cooperative games, gardening and theater to arts, cooking and music with professional artisans.

SOLA is a TV- and video game-free zone. We work at boosting imaginations and creativity all year round! We offer painting, collage, drawing, model building, murals and more. We are focusing on our future’s architects, leaders and entrepreneurs. But, we’ll dive more into that later.

At SOLA, we respect each other. We are kind. And we are happy. 

Steve Adams is the owner and director of SOLA. Although his journey to SOLA was unexpected, he has always had a talent for mentoring kids and creative design. Since graduating from UNCW in 1992, he has spent 20 years coaching baseball, basketball and Ultimate Frisbee locally. He left a 12-year career in the art of landscaping in 2004 before leaving the field to pursue a career for which he was passionate. He began working at SOLA that year and purchased the school in 2006. Originally from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, Steve has a twin brother and a younger brother, and enjoys the outdoors, especially the mountains. Contact Steve at [email protected] or (910) 798-1700.