Get a taste of the thinking and action power you can gain from our programs at one of our Reliance Days.
Join 400+ participants over 15 years who have experienced the power of Montessori-inspired learning and Great Books at Reliance Days, cultivating autonomy, liberty, and leadership skills for a thriving future.
Rated 4.9/5 by our students! See how Reliance Days have transformed lives and inspired lasting change—click here to learn more.
Upcoming Event Dates
| Chicago Event – March 1, 2025 | 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Central Time) |
| Dallas Event – April 12, 2025 | 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Central Time) |
Full Schedule
| Chicago Event Reliance Day Schedule | |
| Time | Activity |
| 9:00 AM | Introductions |
| 9:30 AM | Socratic Discussion on the Pledge of Allegiance |
| 10:30 AM | Break |
| 10:45 AM | Socratic Discussion on Selection from Plato’s Meno |
| 12:15 PM | Break |
| 12:30 PM | Lunch and Talk about the Benefits of Reliance College and The Great Connections Seminar |
| 1:15 PM | Understanding Art First Hand Activity |
| 2:15 PM | Break |
| 2:30 PM | Socratic Discussion on “What is Education?” |
| 3:45 PM | Break |
| 4:00 PM | Answering Your Questions |
What Are
Reliance Days?
Reliance Days are one-day seminars hosted by Reliance College to showcase its transformative approach to higher education. These events include Socratic discussions, experiential learning, and engagement with timeless great books, reflecting Reliance College’s commitment to cultivating autonomy, reason, and leadership. Designed to ignite personal growth and equip participants with tools for thriving in a free society, Reliance Days embody classical Enlightenment principles and provide a glimpse into the future of liberal arts education.
Chicago Event; Full Details
What students say about our programs...
Marsha Familaro Enright’s Reliance Days (AKA The Great Connections Seminars) have been lauded for their profound impact on participants’ personal and intellectual development. Attendees describe the experience as “life-changing,” noting significant enhancements in confidence and cognitive abilities.
What other newsletters say about our program...
About Marsha & Reliance College
Marsha Familaro Enright,
President and Founder of Reliance College.
Holding a B.A. in Biology from Northwestern University and an M.A. in Psychology from the New School for Social Research, Marsha Familaro Enright is an accomplished educational entrepreneur. She founded the notable Council Oak Montessori School in 1990 and ran it for 27 years. In 2005, she founded the predecessor to Reliance College, The Reason, Individualism, Freedom Institute. She is an international lecturer and author with research papers on such topics as neuropsychology, philosophy of biology, and education as well as culture. literature, and politics and is the author of Teaching Freedom: Education for a Free Society. She created the remarkable Great Connections program in 2009 as a compressed version of the Reliance curriculum and has successfully run it since. She has taught at Shimer College, The Foundation for Intellectual Responsibility, Buenos Aires, and Michael Polanyi College at Universidad Francisco Marroquin.
The mission of Reliance College is to provide a superior education that promotes the values of reason, individualism and a free society in which individual rights are respected and protected by the rule of law. Our competitive difference is the way we provide that education. It is specially crafted to instill the mores, the habits of thought and action, necessary for free, independent, self-reliant persons to be autonomous. We help young people become the entrepreneurs of their own lives. We aim to develop that active minority which leads any society—and who will lead our society to the liberty, prosperity and peace so lacking today.
