This Could Change Your Children's Education Plan Completely
What is Turning Point Academy Prep Year? Find out from Dr. Ty Gooch, the Prep Year's director, as he and Charlie deliver a major announcement that could change your child's education forever. Learn how TP Academy Prep Year can help young people grow in leadership, faith, intelligence, maturity, and more, before heading into the real world to battle against the many corrosive ideologies and temptations of modern life. Head to turningpointacademy.com/prepyear today for more information! Watch every episode ad-free on members.charliekirk.com! Get new merch at charliekirkstore.com!Support the show: http://www.charliekirk.com/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Charlie Kirk here, live from the Bitcoin.com studio.
Very excited for an announcement from Turning Point Academy.
How many of you in the audience right now are thinking about going to college, but you know that college might not be for you?
How many of you are a parent right now or a grandparent, and you have a young grandkid or kid that is like, I don't know if I want to go to this school, and you actually want them to learn something?
Well, we are here to announce Turning Point Academy prep year.
And the man behind it all is Dr. Ty Gooch at Turning Point Academy.
And this is a super exciting announcement and honestly blessed that we're able to talk about this.
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Buckle up, everybody.
Here we go.
Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
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Doctor, great to see you.
Great to see you too.
Glad to be here.
What is Turning Point Academy Prep Year?
It is the culmination of what you and Dr. Hutz Hertzberg, Chief Education Officer, have been working on to prepare students for life, to be leaders, to have impact, and if they go on to college, to be ready to be influencers when they get there.
And so essentially what it is, and I want to get into the specifics, is that this is an opportunity not to go to four-year college, but to be a professional.
Is that correct?
That's right.
Training of the Mind, whole life transformation.
The program will include mentors that come in, like yourself, to help students understand economics from a biblical worldview perspective and how to read and process through the great writings of Western civilization in a way that has a biblical infusion of truth at the foundation of them.
Yeah, so walk through technically how this works.
So someone is going to – we already have people that have signed up, and people can check it out at turningpointacademy.com.
That's turningpointacademy.com.
They're going to – this is going to be in Fort Worth this year, correct?
That's right.
And we already have some people that have signed up, and they are going to do what exactly?
They move into dorms, and they're going to really create what college should be.
Yeah, but that would be a short – Yes.
experience on the outside is the way that their hearts and lives will be transformed.
There'll be a week-long modular training format where, from a classical education perspective, helping students learn with rhetoric, helping students learn in a collegial style of learning where they don't just listen from lecture content, but they actually learn to engage and to think.
And then, with virtue and wisdom, how to apply the truths that they're learning.
So yeah, talk more about that.
And also, talk about your background.
How did you lead to this?
You're a PhD.
You also played college football, which is awesome.
Your journey, tell our audience about this and why you I've been involved in Christian ministry for the better part of the last 25 years.
Prior to which, I did play football at Northwestern University, and I see you have a Big Ten representation back there.
I'm going to the Oregon Ducks-Northwestern game.
Oh, that's great.
That's great.
Those tickets were so expensive because they're retrofitting their field.
And I won't ask you who you're going to be for.
Probably the Ducks, but my mom did go to Northwestern.
Okay, fair enough.
So that experience, though, it was one where I learned myself to learn to engage with what it meant to stand for my faith.
So I went from there and got a Master's of Divinity, and not a PhD, but a doctorate in ministry, which is relevant for this program because of the application of truth to life.
And so as a part of this last 25 years of serving in ministry, mostly pastoral, I've also been in Christian education.
Just focused on teaching seniors in high school biblical worldview at a couple of different Christian schools, at a Bible college, a senior seminar, capstone classroom program context where it's so evident students need to learn to finish well so they can go be influencers right away.
Young leaders already leading in many ways.
Now, being prepared not just to go and sort of flail in the context of the ideologies that are being pumped out by some institutions, but to go and to flourish in what it means to be girded up in their faith and to influence others toward the ways of Christ.
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Tell us more about what you would teach in that biblical worldview.
You were a teacher, a guest speaker, a seminar, as these were seniors in high school.
Talk about that more.
The perfect life and sacrificial death and resurrection from the dead of Christ.
That's so critical that they understand it's not just a general faith, a general belief.
There's specific tenets of the faith that are necessary.
And so from that standpoint, then moving to what do I do in response to the gospel?
How do I live?
How do I think?
What does marriage look like?
What does stewardship look like of the gifts that I've been given, also of the resources that I've been able to glean, of the talents and skills?
So all of that in addition to some of the more nuanced aspects of intellect, right?
The Bible makes it super clear, Charlie, super clear, that the beginning of knowledge and wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
It's the fear of the Lord, right?
And so to start there and to think, oh, I really don't need to go beyond here to get to where God wants me to go.
And so to help students understand, yes, let's bring all of the intellect of the world in.
Let us reason together, it says in the book of Isaiah, right?
That's right.
That's right.
Bring it all in here and then watch how it is redefined and ultimately pushed aside by the truths that come from Scripture.
So you did that for 20 years, you said, about?
In large part, yes, but then in Christian education, as a guest lecturer, as an overseer of interns for undergrad and master's students, yes.
What did you see that changed over the years when you taught this to students?
Yeah, the lack of biblical literacy.
From Christian students?
From Christian students, and oftentimes in Christian schools.
Number one question, always answered, always answered with a no.
Have you been taught how to study the truth for yourself?
Negative, negative, negative across the board.
Even with some students that are actually in college, in Bible colleges as a guest lecturer or in a senior seminar context.
And so it's a great opportunity to help the students that apply.
And some of these students are just the best representation in certain categories of excellence.
One student that's applied and been accepted at 33 on the ACT.
Another student, two students already accepted at well-known institutions across the country with scholarship money.
They're putting that on pause so that they can come prepare to go use that education to the best of its ability.
And this is what college should be at the core.
So, again, this is turningpointacademy.com, and Turning Point Academy is doing so much great work.
But there is an immediate kind of call to action because we have a deadline, essentially, right?
Yeah, it is.
It's approaching.
And this is the most unique opportunity that a student, especially a student that wants to go be a leader, Could have.
Because of generous donors, building on the foundation of Turning Point Academy where we have the Educator Summit coming up July 10th through the 13th for all educators across the globe.
Great opportunity.
Go to our website.
You can see more there.
But this opportunity is time sensitive because we've had generous donors donate the equivalent of $20,000 scholarships for every student that's accepted.
Yeah.
The students that get accepted, they'll pay $1,000 deposit fee just to let us know that they're seriously committed after they go through the intervention process.
That's incredible.
And so I want to go back to something you said, and I'm sure that Turning Point Prep here will dive into this.
Have you been taught how to learn the truth?
Can you say that again and contextualize that more, please?
Right.
So in seminary context, in Bible training context, it's called hermeneutics.
How to get at the truth.
Everybody has access to the truth, but it's important to learn how to study the truth.
Why?
So that I don't bring my...
We are overrun right now with people quoting from the Bible out in culture saying, oh, this is Jesus, this is truth.
and they're really not representing the truth of Jesus at all.
They're representing what they thought culture Instead of that, let's push culture aside.
Let's let the Scriptures speak for themselves.
And then let the Scriptures define culture, which is so much of what you do and what you have done with Turning Point in many, many regards.
So, hermeneutics, how to study the Bible.
Let me learn, step by step, simple.
It's not studying Hebrew.
It's not studying Greek.
But there are simple, God-centered ways, not people-centered ways, to learn to study the Bible.
One of the methods is just look.
Learn, live.
Look at the text, see what the author is saying to the original audience, learn from the scriptures based on what it objectively says, and then let's figure out how to live it out.
And so let's apply that then to, would you say that most students coming into Prep Year have had a Christian education of some sort?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
They are...
Some are worship leaders at their churches or in their context.
Some are already super skilled in the area of graphic design and photography, etc.
All of them have a testimony of how the gospel of Christ has already impacted their lives.
Many of them already have begun to lead in spiritual context on their campuses or in their homeschool context, and now they're just eager for somebody to come alongside them to help them grow in what they've done.
You wouldn't believe this.
One of the students we learned through the interview process, she had just written a document to the local governor to challenge the A 30-page document, well written, presented it.
So we get on this interview and then she says, well, I just got back from this event, right?
What was it?
A sports event?
A local?
No.
She's standing for important things in our culture for Christ.
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The end result success would be after nine months of Turning Point Academy prep year.
Students will have been thoroughly exposed to what it looks like to walk with Christ because of a biblical understanding of prayer life and spiritual pursuits.
They will be involved in what it means to also go and serve in the community in various contexts.
They'll take trips to the capital of the state that we're in.
We'll take trips to public office.
And at the end, they'll be fortified in their understanding of biblical worldview in a way that equips them to walk into a myriad of different opportunities, whether it's military, whether it's entrepreneurship in the marketplace, whether it's going to focus on preparing to be a business.
Yeah, you know, the biggest problem facing Oftentimes marketed as something that it used to be, that it no longer is, right?
Something that's going to help students understand how to think properly.
And I wouldn't suggest that that's what it is.
I just remember sitting at this incredible institution, undergrad, receiving class or lecture, and the professor espouses this content.
And I'm a freshman, and I thought, oh, he's telling us these facts.
I'm taking notes.
And I raised my hand.
asked the question and I asked They're theories.
I had no more questions.
Because I thought, I want to hear facts.
I want to hear data that is true and time-tested.
I don't want to hear theories.
I can go read about those on my own as I so choose.
I want the information that's necessary.
So that now is, I would say, one of the biggest divides.
Is the data, the information that's being presented, is it fact?
Or is it theory, ideological, and from culture, and essentially from man?
Whereas classical education, foundation, information, moving on to the middle stage, which is understanding, moving to virtue and wisdom.
Which education, I've heard you say, education needs to move into that.
Now, public education is saying that they don't extend virtue and wisdom, but they are trying to infuse.
With the ideologies, a way in which it's applied.
So we've got a great partner in our host at Fort Worth.
And talk more about that.
You couldn't have a better first-year start because the leaders, Dr. Dockery and at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, so many like-minded leaders there, the provost and the dean of students, great leaders that are going to help us just by helping the environment be created and to create a means through which students might find another one of the pathways, which is academia.
Where they go and to be influencers.
Maybe they're not a lawyer, but they go into the academia context and get degrees that will have helpful payoff, not just for what they benefit from financially, but how they can impact the culture.
And they'll also be exposed to the civic virtues as well from a biblical perspective, correct?
Why is it that self-government and free speech are biblical?
Talk about that as well.
On turningpointacademy.com, there are resources for young students and older students alike to understand the Constitution, to understand the Bill of Rights, to walk through economics.
And our leader, Jennifer Burns, the director of academics, she's laid out a great set of resources.
Well, when these students get into the prep year program, they're going to walk through They'll understand that as you related to free speech.
You chatted a little bit about that just recently.
And to understand that even from Exodus, for instance, everybody knows the story of Exodus where the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.
Everybody thinks it's about them being treated poorly, which that did matter to God's heart.
But the most redundant, the most thorough expression of concern that God had is that they weren't free.
To worship Him as He had prescribed.
And so, yes, we will help students understand the importance of having the right to free speech, having the right to gather freedom freely, and to express worship to God in the ways that He described.
It is God's heart for humanity and for His people to live in a free society.
Tyranny is not in God's plan for His people.
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Talk more about what a model day would be in a Turning Point Academy prep year.
That's great.
The students are going to be in a cohort format, so they'll be on this campus in this retreat center-like context, and they'll wake up in the morning.
It'll be mostly classroom context in the morning, where there'll be an expert that comes in for the given week to focus on content, not just delivery, but content exchange, helping the students work through how to apply what Yep.
Yep.
afternoon where it'll focus more on experience and we'll get out and there'll be physical challenges where we do hikes together.
Nothing too extreme.
Just helping students understand that this is a whole life perspective of the gospel impacting someone's life.
So they'll go on hikes.
We'll go visit different museums and different things like that.
We're going to come to AmericaFest in December, and that'll cap off the end of the year.
But that's generally what a day looks like.
And then in the evening, there'll be some time.
They will do some work.
They'll do some reading in the evening, and they'll have lots of time to interact with one another in their cohort context.
At Southwestern Theological Seminary, Baptist Seminary.
The facility has a swimming pool.
They have a fitness center.
And so almost 200 acres of property there.
So you get the kind of college amenities.
That's right.
In an incredibly intentional context.
Super safe, right?
If I'm a parent sending my kid off to a place I've never been to before, super safe.
The environment there is everything a parent could want and more.
And it will also lead itself to what college should be, which means partnership.
And talk about some of the instructors.
You yourself will be presenting quite a lot.
And I can't think of almost any other college where they'll get this kind of singular instruction because the class sizes, quote-unquote, will not be hundreds of people.
No, no.
It'll certainly be under 100.
And this first year, it'll probably be closer to 30 to 40. Which is amazing.
You think about the value proposition for a student.
It's incredible, right?
The intentionality, the ability to interact with the mentors, not just in that context, but also, Lord willing, long term.
And so that exchange is going to be super valuable, in addition to the students learning to take what they learn and take it back to where they go to next.
Yeah, so let's talk more about, just for a second here, equipping disciples, because that really is the goal.
And what would you say are some of the, not just approaches, the hermeneutical ones, But also, just from a theological perspective, some of the things that you've learned, and I know you touched on this, but some errors that you want to try to write at this work you're doing at Turning Point Academy.
Yeah, you know, the Apostle Paul makes some things super clear, and in parts in the book of Acts, and in some of Luke's writings, but there's this tension that exists.
And the tension is, am I going to choose to please man?
Or am I going to choose to please God?
In Acts 5. Yeah, that's right.
And also in Romans 12 and several other places, right?
And so as it relates to that, students are going to understand there's some things that God not only asks, not only invites, but He commands these things of us.
And then He says, you know, you can't do both in Galatians 1.10.
You can't please man and please God.
I love that.
Caveat.
Unless man wants what God wants.
And then that's how you can get your twofer.
But that's not up to me.
It's up to me to just stand for what God says I to stand for.
So helping students understand what it means to live for courage and Bill Federer and yourself and people like Erwin Lutzer as well.
Phenomenal.
And Dr. Hertzberg as well.
Dr. Hertzberg, absolutely for sure.
time-tested truth-tellers with humility and strength and grace all wrapped up in one packet.
So I would say that's what makes it distinctive.
It's not just information being delivered, but it's with courage and clarity, which is another thing that Paul says, just make open statements of the truth.
Make open statements.
I've never heard anyone say that before.
Yeah, it's Paul's heart because he's concerned.
Where did Paul say that?
He says it in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3-4.
And in his first book to the church in Corinth, he says, don't come with wisdom and knowledge of man.
Why?
There's something at stake.
Because if you don't choose to proclaim the gospel of Christ and Jesus Christ resurrected, then you have the risk of teaching people to follow you and avoiding following God.
Because then the power now is about me, and it's not.
I'm going to live and die.
That was Moses' great sin.
Yeah, that's right.
Because he thought he could actually turn the rock into water.
So, okay, that's amazing.
That's turningpointacademy.com.
And so the people can apply right now.
They can.
They can.
There's a three-step process.
Yeah, walk through that, please.
On the website, it walks right through at the bottom.
When you go to turningpointacademy.com forward slash prep year, you scroll down to the bottom.
I've given you all the content, so just get right down to it and get to the first step, which is to fill out an interest form.
But time is running short because the spaces are filling up and we don't have forever.
We just want to solidify and start moving forward.
And it's this September.
This fall.
Fall 2025.
Because of generous donors.
Generous donors have said, we want this to happen.
We want it to happen now.
And so we say, yes, of course, we want this to happen too.
So they go to phase two.
They can go right to phase two right now.
And they can fill out the application and then send off their reference forms.
After which, we will set them up for an interview, and the process will get going from there.
I will say that what you've put together and the team has put together at Turning Point Academy, this will be far more life-changing than just another year at a college.
You'll dive deep into these ideas.
You'll come out as a sharp, biblical citizen.
And it will take some work too, right?
It will.
Yeah, it will.
It's not a lazy program.
It's not just come and sit by the poolside.
But it's going to be – and it's not just going to be academically engaging.
It's going to engage their hearts.
It's going to challenge some of their preconceptions.
Yeah, it will.
And provoke them towards the higher things and the ultimate purpose.
That's right.
Well, we're super excited, Dr. Gooch.
Any final thoughts here?
And thank you for joining the team about education or what we're trying to do at Turning Point Academy.
It's great to be a part of the team.
And I would just say, go to turningpointacademy.com forward slash prep year.
You hear that, everybody?
Do that right now.
And apply.
Yeah, you won't find a better opportunity.
And the scholarships won't last forever.
So get in on it and make sure that you get the opportunity.
So right now, just so you hear it, if you are a high school senior.
18 to 20 years old.
Oh, okay.
Or if you maybe you're not.
You may have graduated last year and you may have realized that there isn't a great option you're excited about.
Come.
We'll help you get it figured out.
And it's super affordable.
And you might be just drifting, or you might just kind of be wondering, this is pretty, it's an amazing opportunity, right?
That you could go in Fort Worth, Texas, and combine foundational classical, Christian, and civic curriculum with immersive skill-based environment.
I mean, that's as good as it gets.
Yeah, I would say so.
Is there anything like this in the country?
There's nothing exactly like this.
And even if someone created it, what hasn't happened is it hasn't been created.
For a scholarship exchange.
For free.
Yeah, I mean, I think about it like this idea of a prep year, and this could get really big.
I mean, this could get thousands of students that...
And it is coming to Illinois next fall.
That's right.
That's right.
And so it's already lined up, contract signed, committed to work with our partners at Judson University with Dr. Kroom there.
Well, then the other advantage is that since they're on a college campus, they get some of the campus vibe or activities and energy, right?
That's right.
They get a chance to kind of peer in and maybe even to influence.
Yes.
Yes.
Because they'll be learning stuff they might not always be learning there.
Absolutely.
Dr. Gooch, thank you so much.
It's turningpointacademy.com.
It's right there on the front page, Prep Year, Preparing for Life, Leadership, and Impact.
We put this together.
Dr. Gooch deserves the credit.
Hutz deserves the credit for transformative opportunity ages 18, 19, 20. Right?
18, 19, 20. You guys can go live nine months in Fort Worth, Texas.
Maybe if you live nearby, it's not that big of a lift.
And you will learn things.
That will change your whole life.
It's what college should be.
And then you guys can go get whatever degree and do there.
But that sets you on the course.
And it's kind of a dream because I talk about college scam and all this.
