This Saturday, our students had the unique opportunity to visit the IBM Design Lab here in Austin.
They spent the day learning Design Thinking principles from Experienced Facilitators and Designers and putting these principles into practice through work on a highly-relevant problem statement: ‘Design a better way for high schoolers to plan for what’s next after graduating’. More than 95% of our students have expressed that they plan to pursue a four-year post-secondary degree after high school, but 100% of them are in agreement that high school, in its current state, does not adequately prepare them for what’s next.
From empathy mapping and divergence, to convergence and storyboarding, our students generated impressive solutions to a problem that resonated with each and every one of them.
What an experience to learn about Human Centered Innovation and apply it a real-world problem, all in the same Saturday afternoon. What’s more, each of our students (and volunteers) received IBM Design Thinking credentials after the workshop.
Huge thanks to the IBM team for sharing their expertise, time and resources with our students and volunteers!