UK resident Memphis Grace McPherson was just 13 when she first visited NuVu High School. Her mother, who was visiting friends in Boston, had learned about the hands-on, project-based school and decided to stop by. What began as a plan to try a simple two-week studio turned into a transformative experience.

“I ended up there for an entire year, and it was wonderful—life-changing—and I loved it,” she says.

Now 22, Grace recalls that at the time she was thriving in very traditional UK schools—high-achieving, but still yearning for more.

“At this point, we stumbled upon NuVu, and it was fantastic to see a completely different form of education. I fell in love with everything about it. I loved the opportunity to think differently. It was exactly what I needed.”

Grace says the design studio model—tackling something unfamiliar and being challenged by it—spoke to her in a way that ignited her creative passions. “It changed the way I talked about things. I started thinking more critically and developed a better vocabulary to describe my design philosophy and approach,” she recalls.

During a vacation back in the English countryside, Grace discovered that a visual effects conference was taking place at her hotel. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to quietly slip in—without a ticket—to hear the keynote speaker. Afterward, she approached him to talk about the future of VR and themed entertainment, a topic she had begun exploring at NuVu.

“The next thing I knew, I was invited for a tour of Walt Disney Imagineering’s campus because he happened to know an executive producer there,” she remembers. “That visit launched my career. The reason I eventually left NuVu was because I’d made so many connections in Los Angeles, in my dream field, that my family decided to move out there so I could pursue it and see where it would lead.”

Grace went on to graduate in 2024 from the University of Southern California’s Iovine and Young Academy, and she credits NuVu with giving her the confidence to dive into problem-solving headfirst.

“I felt so supported that I could try anything. I’d take on these crazy projects and learn so much, knowing I was in an environment where someone would catch me while I was learning. It made me push myself to see how far I could go. It was amazing,” she says. “It awakened in me a confidence and excitement for everything. Imagine doing a studio about something you’ve never heard of, in a skill set you’ve never tried—and walking away elated, energized, and with insight you couldn’t have imagined before going in.”

By 17, Grace had founded her own augmented reality company and partnered with a contemporary art gallery in Los Angeles. She went on to design a newsletter for the family of musician Billie Eilish; help develop the design concept for the first theme park in Rwanda; create bespoke AR experiences for the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose; and is currently designing a scare experience for the Lake District National Park in the UK, transforming an abandoned hostel into a horror attraction. And those are just a few of the projects she’s tackled.

Through it all, Grace says the spirit of NuVu has been a thread running through her work.

“The confidence I have when taking on new projects—even small things like learning how to pitch ideas that might not work—comes from NuVu,” says Grace. “It’s that confidence to take on new challenges that has stuck with me. I know I can get things across the finish line, even if it takes late nights, hard work, some crazy solutions, and a little bit of luck. NuVu truly trained me to keep that spirit alive.”

‍