The Gumption Academy has grown out of an increasing sense that the current options, particularly for folks in their late teens and early twenties, fall short in many ways.

College? Spend upward of $150,000 to listen to lectures and have papers graded. There are amazing college professors out there, but one must ask: what are you paying for? And the payment is not just in money. Four of your most critical years at peak energy and creativity. Why are so many business stars college dropouts?

Military? Submit to an organization led by politicians with no commitment to the US Constitution, run often by men with corrupt manners to fight wars of dubious connection with national security?

I can envision something different; can’t you? With a committment to the value of the Western literary tradition, but instead of a crash and burn college approach, a lifelong plan of study and intellectual engagement, with leaders and mentors who are as engaged and committed as an Army sergeant, but leading a cause that is more just and genuine. A plan for prosperity that is neither get-rich-quick nor a caving to the inflexibility and often passionless prospect of a 20 year 9-5 job.

I, Paul McNiel, am the founder of the Gumption Academy. I have a wealth of more accomplished, capable and interesting friends and colleagues but I have been blessed with a unique and interesting path from which much of the G.A. curriculum and models have been derived. 

I was raised with my brother and sisters deep in the woods of Quebec by linguist parents. Our schooling was very informal but rigorous. Mostly I had the Compton’s Encyclopedia, the 1967 Boy Scout Manual and a slingshot.

We eventually moved into civilization in America. In middle school I started a few small ventures and by highschool I was day-trading stocks inbetween classes. I used my earnings to travel, working on a large ranch in Australia at 15 and hitch-hiking around New Zealand with a buddy at 16. Since then I have travelled and read extensivey. I have a degree from Partick Henry College, did a tour in Afghanistan as an Army Infantryman, acquired a significant portfolio of rental real estate (over 100 units), lived up in the Klondike (without running water), attended the swankiest events (with my hand tied black satin bowtie, of course) and hopped trains through the West, and a few other interesting things.

The goal is not to have a list of interesting adventures, but to live deliberately and to channel the God-given energy of excitement into truly worthwhile goals. That is why, with the help of others, I have developed the Gumption Basic Startup Kit, the Spartan Academy Model and the Adventure in Education program.

My goal is always to join with others who value the interesting adventurous life and create opportunities for people of all ages to engage in the educational process as students, mentors, teachers, investors or all of the above. I look forward to meeting YOU and hearing your story. Let’s talk.