As part of an exciting new district partnership, the Office of Scholarship and Innovation kicked off a community design lab with the Avondale Elementary School District today. Administrators, parents, students, business and faith leaders all convened to push through a design sprint focused on redesigning a particular space or interaction within their current school — for example, school pickup/drop-off, parent-teacher conferences, the cafeteria, the hallways. We were particularly inspired by the students who participated alongside all the adults in the room!
Embracing the idea that design thinking is human-centered, collaborative, experimental and optimistic, the participants formed pairs with others outside their school and worked on redesigning their partner’s chosen space or interaction, inspired by the Crash Course in Design Thinking. In just a few short hours, the AESD team members generated, shared and critiqued dozens of creative proposals. We will continue to work with the Avondale teams in the months ahead to re-imagine each school’s identity and culture and to promote a future without limits for district students.