CollegiateMagazine-v2

FALL

SPARK

2016

ENVISION RICHMOND

SCENES FROM HOMECOMING

MIND-BLOWING STEAM

THE GREATEST GIFT

ENVISION

RICHMOND

Rafting into downtown Richmond was a great way to start off a week of focus on ways to make the city a great place to live and work for everyone.

After the students arrived by raft, they divided into small groups and visited various sites to learn about needs and projects underway. Ted Elmore (pg. 6), president of the Richmond BridgePark Foundation, explains to one group his vision for a “Low Line” (vs. New York’s High Line) park that would bridge the James River.

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Having learned about population groups who could be better served, the student teams considered attributes of those people to gain a better understanding of their needs. Middle School teacher Maria Benson (top left) looks on as Connor Webb, Milan Mehta, Quin Timmerman and Riley Foster work on a design solution to the lack of greenspaces in the city. They ultimately created a model of a rooftop garden.

Envision Richmond coordinator Laurie Shadowen (top right) chats with former Collegiate classmates Shelley Daughtrey ‘98, senior account manager at West Cary Group, and Boz Boschen ‘98, director of digital at Neathawk Dubuque & Packett, who came to campus to share information about branding and marketing ideas with the 8th Graders.

Caroline Laskin, Liam Bellamy and Andrew Kauders (bottom left) explain their idea for Illumistop, a bus stop that offers shelter, bright lighting and an alert system to let riders know the timing of the next bus.

Panels of representatives from local agencies (bottom right) listened to the student presentations, asked questions and offered feedback.

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ITY CLASSROOM // 8th Graders tackle real

challenges faced by area organizations and offer thoughtful solutions in Envision Richmond, the Middle School capstone experience.

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Having learned about population groups who could be better served, the student teams considered attributes of those people to gain a better understanding of their needs.

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On a beautiful clear morning in October, the 8th Grade class boarded buses to ride to the edge of the James River where they were given paddles, life jackets and instructions for rafting on the waters that lead right into the heart of downtown Richmond. Fun, challenging and educational, the exercise was a fitting beginning to a week of activities that, using the city as their classroom, exposed the students to important issues facing Richmonders. By week’s end, they had devised creative proposals to help solve them.

Three years ago a group of teachers lead by Cathy Melton, now-retired Director of Economics Education, and Clare Sisisky, then Director of Global Education, considered a number of ideas for a capstone Middle School experience for our 8th Graders. The result: Envision Richmond, a program that aims to foster lifelong responsible citizenship by giving our students the skills and confidence they need to make a difference in the world around them. “The program fits perfectly into our Responsible Citizenship initiative as it involves civic engagement, economic literacy and service,” says Ms. Sisisky who is now Director of Responsible Citizenship at Collegiate.

The program was piloted with a small group of 8th Graders for two years and offered to the entire grade level this year. Divided into teams, the students visited various locations throughout Richmond including Tricycle Garden, Home Again, the Virginia War Memorial, GRTC and the downtown YMCA. They rode a GRTC bus the length of a route, played hoops in wheelchairs, pedaled their bicycles around downtown and toured a homeless shelter. Through those activities, they learned first-hand about challenges Richmonders encounter and the agencies that serve them.

“It is essential that our students actually visit various sites around the Richmond area and interact with people outside of Collegiate’s community, so they broaden their knowledge base and feel more empathy for those most affected by a specific challenge,” says Middle School teacher Laurie Shadowen, coordinator of the program. “It’s also imperative that our students collaborate and do some creative thinking away from the traditional classroom in settings where they are more inspired to think beyond the textbook and class discussions.

At first, the issues seem so big (like homelessness, foster care, lack of green spaces in the city), but as they learned strategies to narrow the problems, they became much more manageable. So often in life people see big problems and choose not to do anything because it seems so overwhelming, but if you whittle it down, then people feel more comfortable acting. That’s what we try to do in this ER Program // give students strategies to feel like they can do something.”

TOP LEFT: Middle school teacher, Maria Benson, overlooks students working on a design solution. // TOP RIGHT: Former Collegiate graduates on campus sharing branding and marketing ideas with 8th Graders.

BOTTOM LEFT: Caroline Laskin, Liam Bellamy, and Andrew Kauders explaining their Illumistop idea. // BOTTOM RIGHT: Panelists listening to final team presentations.

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Back on campus, the teams got to work, using the design thinking process (see below) as a method for understanding needs and generating ideas for solutions. Prototypes were developed and marketing experts helped them with logo designs and promotional language. On the last day, panelists, most of them hosts for the students’ visits earlier in the week, came to campus to listen to the final team presentations.

Many thanks to these individuals who made time to explain the issues on Monday and return to view some possible solutions on Friday:

TIM BARHAM, JONATHAN OWENS // GRTC KELLY HICKOK // RESOURCES FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING KIM WATSON, JOHN WALKER // GREATER RICHMOND ARC RUTHIE BURKE // CAMERON K. GALLAGHER (CGM) FOUNDATION SEQUOIA ROSS // TRICYCLE GARDENS BRANTLEY TYNDALL // SPORTS BACKERS/CYCLING MATT CRANE // RICHMOND CYCLING CORPS GILES HARNSBERGER // GROUNDWORK RVA, INC. KEITH WHIPPLE ‘98 // WATERSTREET STUDIO CLAIBORNE SCOTT MASON ‘78 // VIRGINIA HOME FOR BOYS AND GIRLS BEBE TRAN // FOSTER CARE :: CATHOLIC CHARITIES SEAN MONROE, JOLINDA UNDERWOOD // HOME AGAIN PAUL GALANTI // VIRGINIA WAR MEMORIAL STEPHEN ROSS // VCU MILITARY STUDENT SERVICES TRICIA PURYEAR // VP, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, YMCA ALAN CARNEY // ST. MARY’S HOSPITAL (PEDIATRIC) SKIP LONG // CHURCH HILL ACADEMY CAT ANTHONY // SPORTABLE CATHY MELTON // FORMER ENVISION RICHMOND COORDINATOR

THINKING ABOUT DESIGN

Design thinking is a way to approach challenges in a thoughtful and fun way while applying the four C’s: collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication. As our 8th Graders tackle the challenges they identify at each of the community sites, they follow the steps of design thinking to generate creative solutions to problems.

1 › V ISIT TO THE SITE to learn about its goals and challenges and, by interviewing those who use the services, develop empathy by understanding what it means to be one of them.

2 › C RITICALLY ASSESS and narrow their focus to a few specific types of individuals affected by the challenges.

3 › C OLLABORATE AND DEVELOP IDEAS to try to solve a few specific needs of those folks affected by the issue.

4 › CREATE A 3-D PROTOTYPE of an idea for a solution.

5 › C OMMUNICATE A POSSIBLE SOLUTION to a panel of experts from the community.

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We each brought different and unique ideas, strengths and weaknesses that all really worked together and came out with a strong and positive outcome.

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In the final phase of Envision Richmond, this spring the 8th Graders will decide on some type of community outreach in partnership with the organizations that helped their group learn so much in the fall. “The energy that our students bring to all of their ideas is contagious, and I am truly inspired by their desire to make a difference,” says Mrs. Shadowen.

“Having been involved for the last three years and seen the process ignite so much passion and interest in young teenagers, I believe Envision Richmond plants the seeds for change in the next generation.”

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TH GRADERS REFLECT ON ENVISION RICHMOND.

“Before Envision Richmond I had no idea that there was any problem with refugees or immigrants. I knew the basics but I had never thought to consider the problems that the families and their children would be having with new students. Now that Envision Richmond is over, I have a new perspective on how to create an effective and efficient solution and to make a presentation about it. I will definitely use these tactics throughout my life.”

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TOP LEFT: View of the James River while rafting.

“It was really an eye opener to go off campus and see different problems in our city. ER showed me that we really can make a difference in our community even if we aren’t adults yet. It also showed me that there is so much that should to be done for our community.”

“I think the best part about collaborating with my team was the fact that everyone in our group understood the issue, and people were creative in coming up with ideas for solving the issue. We each brought different and unique ideas, strengths and weaknesses that all really worked together and came out with a strong and positive outcome. Just like the real world.”

“I loved talking to the panel! Sure, it was stressful getting up there and presenting our idea, but watching them listen to our idea, watching them nod when we said something, and watching them clapping and appreciating what we did was very inspiring. I also loved how all of our ideas came together. Everything else in the week was really fun too!”

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SAMPLING OF SOLUTIONS // Envision Richmond

is not just an exercise that begins and ends during one week in the fall. One local entity is taking the ideas of past Envision Richmond students very seriously — the Bridgepark Foundation, which is working on Richmond’s “Lowline” project, is interested in these students’ idea for sidewalk murals that would lead visitors to the river.

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BOTTOM LEFT: Rafting under the bridge heading towards the heart of downtown Richmond.

RIGHT: Students rafting down the James River into downtown Richmond.

The following are a few of this year’s ideas conceived by 8th Graders as solutions to some of the challenges they observed in the Richmond community: FOOD DESERTS // Refrigerated food lockers dispersed

throughout the neighborhoods, filled with fresh produce from Tricycle Gardens from orders received from the corner markets.

HOMELESSNESS // Turning abandoned buildings into

apartments for homeless through a homeless job training in construction program.

IMMIGRATION & REFUGEES // Mentors - students help with

academics, adults with social issues and jobs.

MILITARY VETERANS // Build a place for military veterans to

go to relax and/or get treatment and counseling. A calm tranquil setting.

EDUCATION & LITERACY // Develop a program that has buses take underprivileged children to different job locations to learn about a variety of career opportunities.

GRTC BUS SERVICE // Well-lit bus stops with special light

that would indicate if bus is on time or behind schedule.

Sports for people with physical disabilities // Uniteable a camp for kids with disabilities and able-bodies kids to participate in sports together.

FOSTER CARE // Creating awareness campaigns in schools

and outside of grocery stores that includes flyers and other information about youth who are awaiting care.

TEENS AND MENTAL HEALTH // Forming a camp-like experience

for teens with anxiety or depression. Families and support dogs would be included in this camp.

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