Just down the street from Pratt, where we were parked Monday and Tuesday, is an amazing public school called BCAM (Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School), started by James O’Brien. I met James back in October 2009 at the PopTech conference in Maine. He and I were both Social Innovation Fellows and got to be good friends (watch his presentation from the conference below). The school takes an arts- and media-based approach that combines community, personal identity, and achievement. In short, it’s awesome.
The students came out to the trailer in 2 groups. The first was 9th and 10th graders in the morning, the second was 11th graders after lunch. I started each session by going over to BCAM and showing the Colbert clip, and asking students what they thought design was and how it might be important (or not be important) in their own lives. One student from the second group noted the distinction between something like an iPod and the Hippo Roller, and that she saw the difference between just a product and something “that actually helped people.” We worked with two teachers, Christy Herbes and Elise Pelletier, who were fantastic and got the students excited to see the trailer.
Photo: Kristen Taylor
After the quick in-class presentation, we hurried out to the trailer to see the products in person. The students loved the Whirlwind wheelchair and were timid at first to try it out, but a few had a good wheelie down by the time they left. It was interesting to see how many of them overcame their fear of falling backwards in the chair after only a few tries. Another crowd favorite was the Subtle Safety ring, which many identified as “looking like brass knuckles,” but said it would make a great defensive tool to have on hand when walking home.
We were also joined by Kristen Taylor from PopTech, who came by to say hello to James and myself, and stuck around to take some photos and videos of the students. A PBS film crew was also there, getting footage about the road show for their upcoming show Need to Know, which debuts in May!
Photo: Kristen Taylor
Christy Herbes told us that their next project is in fact a product design project, and that the book would be helpful in guiding and inspiring some of the student work. We hope to keep in touch with everyone throughout that project to see how we might advise students. After school, two students came back to the trailer and brought friends who couldn’t make it out during school hours. One young man brought his friend and said “you have to check out the wheelchair!”
Thank you so much to James and Christy for helping to organize such a fun day with so many great young creative minds.
We’ve confirmed 25 different high schools and colleges as official stops on our tour! Each school has its own informational page, which can be accessed from the list on the Itinerary page here. Please check back regularly for updates on each school page- we will be adding specific schedule and location info for where the Airstream will be parked at each stop, along with when and where the lecture will be held as soon as we have confirmed details with each school.
