Wisdom & Influence Podcast Ep. 8: Faith In Action with Ian Rowe
At a moment when education, character, and the American Dream are increasingly questioned, educator and co-founder of Vertex Partnership Academies Ian Rowe argues that renewal begins not with rhetoric, but with faith put into action. On Cornerstone University’s Wisdom & Influence podcast, Rowe reflected on how virtue-driven education grounded in Christian faith and personal responsibility can restore opportunity — especially for young people in vulnerable communities.
As culture and institutions increasingly define students by perceived limitations and disadvantages, Rowe challenges educators to move beyond rhetoric. Throughout the conversation hosted by President Gerson Moreno‑Riaño, he emphasized that education should prepare young people to take responsibility for their lives and future rather than internalize narratives of victimhood.
“Unfortunately, many young people today are being marinated in narratives that tell them everything that they can’t do in their lives,” Rowe said. “And it’s created, in some communities, almost this idea of learned helplessness — I can’t control my own destiny. And I push back very hard.”
Rowe grounded this vision in what he calls the FREE model — Family, Religion, Education, and Entrepreneurship — noting that large-scale studies on opportunity consistently point to the importance of family, faith, and education in shaping long-term outcomes.
“Christian influence is a powerful tool,” Rowe said. “But it means nothing if it’s just off to the side and never really utilized. It’s one thing to proselytize, but it’s a whole different thing to actualize.”
That commitment to faith lived out is reflected in Rowe’s work at Vertex Partnership Academies, where character formation is intentionally woven into the life of the school.
“We decided to organize the entire school around the cardinal virtues — courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom,” Rowe said. “And courage is the first, because courage is the virtue that you must exercise in order to practice all the others.”
For Rowe, education at its best forms people prepared to lead self-determined lives marked by moral clarity. That commitment is reflected in his role as a national President’s Fellow, mentoring Cornerstone students, and through Vertex Partnership Academies’ role as a Golden Eagle Partner with Cornerstone University — a shared commitment to education grounded in Christ-centered faith, virtue, and influence for Jesus Christ.
About the Wisdom & Influence Podcast
About Ian Rowe
Ian Rowe is an educator, author, and the CEO and co-founder of Vertex Partnership Academies, a virtues-based International Baccalaureate public charter high school in the Bronx organized around the cardinal virtues of courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom. He also serves as a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where his work focuses on education, upward mobility, and family formation.
Rowe is the author of “Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.).” His career includes leadership roles at Teach For America, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MTV, and as CEO of the Public Prep charter network. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in computer science engineering from Cornell University.
