Innovation@SF

with Shraddha Chaplot, Head of Innovation

Encouraging Exploration Through Glassrooms

When I joined Saint Francis in summer 2020, I envisioned a school campus that was constantly transforming into different exploratory spaces beyond the classroom. Whether we’d be walking to class, getting lunch or going home, there would be opportunities to stumble upon something that not only sparked our curiosity but led down a new path of wonder. New experiences open our minds and hearts to unknown possibilities that we never knew existed.

WHAT IS A GLASSROOM?

We decided to convert the three collaboration rooms inside the Eggers Innovation Center into those themed exploratory spaces I had imagined early on. We named them “glassrooms,” as they are spaces made of glass but are forever changing. You could look inside and be invited in, create something and leave it changed for the next glassroom guest. Glassrooms become exploratory transporters: immersive, interactive, living laboratories that transport the guest into a completely different time and space. Essentially, they are spaces observed and experienced from both outside and within.

Asian Student Association’s Lunar New Year

Asian Student Association’s Lunar New Year glassroom was filled with red envelopes and candy, an origami table and a map depicting the different regions that celebrate this festival.

Glassrooms are spaces that are created by any member of our community. What I hope is that you will enter curious and leave informed, inspired, encouraged, and eager for more.

Our First Three Glassrooms

Although we started with some of our student leaders in affinity groups, word has spread and Lancers across campus have been connecting with me to create their own. Check out our first three glassrooms.

TEDx SaintFrancisHS

TEDxSaintFrancisHS’s glassroom displayed this year’s 13 speakers and their topics, with questions posed across the space to invite anyone to participate in the conversation.

MultiHeritage Student Union’s Julie Lythcott-Haims

MultiHeritage Student Union welcomed author Julie LythcottHaims for an evening of conversation. This glassroom featured a mural-size hand-drawn illustration, information on her three books and a trivia challenge.

INTERESTED IN DESIGNING YOUR OWN GLASSROOM?

Have an idea? Want to create a musical masterpiece installation, a life-size chess game, set up your startup’s product for student beta testing or create a dramatic visualization of a page right out of a novel? I’d love to connect and co-create a glassroom space with you.

Email me at shraddhachaplot@sfhs.com to share your dream and we will bring it to life!

Scan to go directly to our Innovation@Saint Francis page www.sfhs.com/innovation

Ruhi Yusuf ’24

President and Hackathon Head

LancerHacks

President

Programming Club

Manager

Lancer Tech League

Board Member

Robotics Team

Participant

Innovation@SaintFrancis Projects

Santa Clara University BioInnovation and Design Lab: Infectious Disease Forecasting (Machine Learning), summer 2021

Santa Clara University BioInnovation and Design Lab: Biofeedback in Immersive Environments (Virtual Reality), spring 2022, fall 2022, spring 2023

What inspired your love of technology?

During middle school we had a course in computer science and computer programming, and I really liked the intersection of logic and art, which was the program we were using. I liked how I could create things and see them come to life before my eyes. During COVID I wasn’t exposed to a lot of clubs. With in-person learning, I started off with small clubs like LancerHacks and more learning opportunities developed. The hands-on projects with Innovation@SaintFrancis really got me there and exposed me to what I want to do in the future: a career in STEM and engineering. I like to convey my knowledge to others. With Robotics, for example, you’re always teaching the next person what you’re doing so that when you graduate, there’s always someone holding onto that project.

Talk about your learning opportunities.

I am Hackathon leader and president for LancerHacks, which hosts an annual, coed hackathon for middle and high schools in the Bay Area. I manage logistics for the five student tech clubs that form the Lancer Tech League. As a Robotics board member, I focus mostly on coding and electronics. I’ve participated in two projects with Innovation@ SaintFrancis and Santa Clara University. My favorite is the biofeedback project using virtual reality [VR]. We are building a pulse sensor and designing a biofeedback VR app to record the signals our body makes when the user responds to what we are showing them. We then transform that biofeedback into sights and sounds we can interact with.

Seeing that I can code something to create a heart rate sensor and see the effect of that in the virtual world is pretty cool. Our Santa Clara mentor, Dr. Julia Scott [director of Santa Clara’s Brain and Memory Care Lab], works with us at Saint Francis. I am on my third cohort for this project. For Robotics and LancerHacks, it is a bit of an unseen mentorship. We really focus on the continuity of the clubs.

How has Saint Francis helped you become a leader?

It’s the ease of access to opportunities to learn and grow. The classes, curriculum and activities expose you to leadership. Clubs and projects force you to take initiative. If you take the initiative, you become a leader. My teachers and friends are also super supportive. The first thing that brought me to Saint Francis was the warmth and hospitality that I got from my shadow host and their friends. I have seen that carry to my classes and outside clubs.

What’s your favorite thing about technology?

The constant unknown of it fascinates me. If you look at a certain piece of technology, you know what it does, but you don’t know its hidden potential or hidden dangers. How far can you test it? How far have you tested it? [As students] we don’t exactly have that on a dayto-day basis, but we are getting exposure to new technologies and to thinking for ourselves.

One problem that people are trying to solve is artificial intelligence [AI] and its potential impact on student writing. How will teachers know if a student or technology wrote an essay? I’d like to be part of the process that automates AI, to see how it works and to see how we use technology to explore areas we cannot physically be in.