Design Revolution Road Show

February 10th, 2010

Recap: Design High School, Feb. 9th

Susan Mas

After a wonderful day at Art Center in Pasadena (recap here), we headed downtown bright and early to The Design High School, a free public charter school that teaches core subjects using design principles. Classes focus on making, problem solving, and applying basic skills to address complex issues in creative ways. The Design High School currently only has about 75 students in grades 9-12, and most students are low-income. In a similar approach to our Studio H high school program (vote to help us land some seed funding here!), The Design High School is a uniquely engaged learning experience for public school teenagers. We were thrilled to be there!

We were greeted in the morning by Executive Director Susan Mas (video above), and spent the morning block periods bringing classes of students out to the exhibition trailer by grade level (first juniors, then sophomores, then freshmen). Before taking them out to the trailer, which parked across the street against the backdrop of their school building which is painted with a beautiful graphic design by the students themselves, I showed the DVD of my recent appearance on the Colbert Report, which the students got a kick out of.

Out at the trailer, students had varying (but almost all positive!) reactions to the products. Some approached timidly, with a guarded desire to understand what each of them did and why they were important. Others raced to the Whirlwind Wheelchair to learn how to wheelie, or made a beeline for the Hippo Roller. Their interactions with the products were fantastic, as each class did not hesitate to pick things up, ask questions (i.e. “That little laptop is so cool! My sister would love it! Where can I get one” and “Wait, I can adjust these glasses myself? What’s inside them?”), and begin to understand their context (i.e. “So this is a learning toy for refugee children? What language is it in?”)

Despite the rain, students filed out throughout the day, and even at lunch, we got some questions about our own background working as a designer and how we put this whole thing together. We heard from Susan that many of them really enjoyed being able to experience something up close and personal, and get to play with the products and learn through the hands. At lunch we were visited by one of Susan’s colleagues, Allan, who has worked with the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) high school programs for years, and we discussed the importance of hands-on learning in public education.

In the afternoon we were visited by a few other individuals who work for the school, and two people from the nearby Good Samaritan Hospital (whose parking lot we were perched in!). It was great to be able to spread the word about the work beyond just the school and into the community and its supporters.

Before leaving, Matt from solar company RayTracker stopped by with a used photovoltaic solar panel/module for us, which we’ll soon be hooking up to power the Airstream! It was a great day spent with great students, and we are excited for our next high school stop. Despite the excitement that stirs at each of our college visits, the high school days are especially invigorating. Particularly because both Matt and I are in the process of getting certified as high school teachers to run Studio H in Bertie County, North Carolina, it is wonderful to see how design can inspire teenagers to view the world (and hopefully improve it!) in new, optimistic, and transformative ways.

February 10th, 2010

Daily Postcard: February 9th

Student-designed signage inside Design High School, Los Angeles, CA

February 10th, 2010

Quote From The Road: February 9th

When: February 9th, 11:32 a.m.
Where: In the exhibition trailer at our stop at Design High School, Los Angeles

Student: “How’d you do all this? Hard work and motivation?”
Emily: “Yeah, I guess so!”
Student: “Dang, I need to work harder! This is sick!”

November 8th, 2009

Individual School Pages: Check for Updates

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.

November 1st, 2009

List of Confirmed Schools

As of November 1, 2009, the following schools have been confirmed (see the Itinerary page for the full route and more information):

• February 1: Redwood High School, Larkspur, CA
• February 2: Kick-Off Event with Adobe, San Francisco, CA
• February 3: California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
• February 4: Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA
• February 5: San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
• February 8: Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
• February 9: The Design High School, Los Angeles, CA
• February 15: University of Texas, Austin, TX
• February 18: University of Louisiana, Lafayette, LA
• February 22-23: Auburn University, Auburn, AL
• February 24-26: Hale County Workshop (Learning Landscape build), Greensboro, AL
• March 1-2: North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
• March 4-5: Bertie County School District, Windsor, NC
• March 11: Maryland Institute College of Arts, Baltimore, MD
• March 12: The Park School, Baltimore, MD
• March 15: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
• March 22: Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
• March 23: Brooklyn Community Arts & Media High School (BCAM), Brooklyn, NY
• March 25: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
• March 29: Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
• March 30: Design Lab High School, Cleveland, OH
• April 1: College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI
• April 2: Cranbrook Academy of Art and High School, Detroit, MI
• April 5-9: School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
• April 12-13: University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI
• April 15: University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
• April 16: Wilmington High School, Wilmington, OH