Meet Project LOOP’s Carson Wade Brent Humphreys: How did you learn about Project LOOP and what made you think it was a good group to get involved with? Carson Wade: I learned about Project LOOP through my art teacher, who runs the skate club I’m in at Taylor High School. He mentioned Project LOOP and it sounded great to me. There are not a lot of things to do in Taylor for kids who prefer action sports over baseball, football or 4H stuff, and the program provides guys like me a way to get involved in the community while at the same time figure out what I want to become in life. He told me we were going to learn how to design and build a pumptrack and then try to get the city to build trails at our parks. BH: What activities and projects have you worked on through Project LOOP? CW: I have been present for almost all LOOP activities and I can’t get enough of it. We designed and built a pump track at the Zidell House, we created our own brand of coffee, we toured The University of Texas School of Architecture with the dean, we collaborated with artists to screen print posters for our town events and we built a 48-foot half pipe for the Fun Fun Fun music festival in Austin. We’re always doing something great! LOOP has given me so much to do and think about. I hope LOOP never ends because I want to be a part of it even when I’m grown up. BH: Which activities were most fun? CW: The project I enjoyed the most was when we got to visit Progress Coffee in Austin to learn about the business of coffee. Owners Joshua Bingamon and Troy Authement brought out a world map and started by explaining where the beans come from, how they are harvested, how they are transported and the costs involved in making it a business. It was cool to understand how all the stuff happens to make a little cup of coffee. It’s important for kids to understand these things, I think. Project LOOP teaches us that knowledge is power. After the business lesson, we broke into two teams and learned to roast our own coffee. We got to mix our beans and taste it until we thought it was right. Then Project LOOP brought in two amazing graphic designers to do a branding exercise and create identity and labels for our new coffee. My team got to work with Chris Bilheimer. Chris is an awesome
One of the students benefiting from Project LOOP is Carson Wade, age 13. The group’s founder, Brent Humphreys, recently interviewed him about his involvement with the program.
graphic designer who has worked for Green Day, REM, and other really cool bands. I want to design music CDs and posters when I grow up so this was so awesome! We decided to name our blend “Mocha Death” and our tag line is “Coffee That Brings Zombies Back to Life.” Once we determined our name, we rolled out paper on the ground and all started sketching for our artwork for the label. We drew a gnarly skeleton hand coming out of a grave. Chris helped us refine our design and make labels for our coffee. We now use the coffee as a fundraising tool to raise money toward bike trails and a skate park for our town. A $13 donation gets a bag of our awesome coffee! BH: What are the other kids in the program like? CW: They’re cool! Some play football, some are in band and we even have two girl members that are cheerleaders, so we have a good mix of kids. One of the LOOP lessons is diversity and tolerance, so it’s important to have a mix. We know we are only as strong as our weakest link, so we all get along greatly! BH: Do you enjoy working with the other young people on projects? CW: I really do. I’m one of the youngest, so I learn a lot from the older kids. BH: How did your work with Project LOOP lead to a new bike for you? CW: I earned the SUNDAY bike by coming to each LOOP activity and showing accountability, responsibility and working hard on our pump track. I love my bike and I feel it was a good lesson for everyone. BH: Can you describe the feeling of working on a bike trail and then getting to ride it? CW: I have learned so much about pumptracks, from soils and tools to drainage issues. The feeing of riding something I helped create was so awesome and rewarding and I am proud. Now I am more confident that we can get our city to help us build more trails.
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