YOUTH + EDUCATION

CENTER FOR URBAN PEDAGOGY: CITY STUDIES
QUEENS, NYC - 2022

Studies have shown that indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times higher than outside pollutants. What is good air quality? Do we have good air quality in our schools? How can bad air quality impact students and communities? In the spring of 2022, students from the International High School for Health Sciences took a closer look at air quality in schools. To investigate the issue, students talked to community members in Elmhurst, interviewed stakeholders working on the issue, and created mixed media mobiles to process the information.

The team gathered what they learned and created a booklet to teach others about indoor air quality, how it impacts students and the community at large, and what changes we need to improve the quality of air in our school. See more here.

QUEENS MUSEUM COMMUNITY SUMMER CAMP
QUEENS, NYC - 2021

Through brainstorming activities, observation, discussion, sign making, and protest, kids age 7 to 12 answered the question ‘how might we advocate for safer parks and more space to play?’ Together students identified types of recreational activities people do in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, how those activities can impact the local ecology, how the design of the park impacts those activities, and how we can bring awareness to the issues we find.

FLUSHING WATERWAYS DIY BUTTONS
QUEENS, NYC - 2017

At the Riverkeeper x Guardians of Flushing Bay Flushing Waterways Community Visioning Session hosted at the Queens Museum on June 22, 2017 Flushing Waterways Buttons allowed participants of all ages to design their own Flushing Bay and Creek button or customize existing templates.

INSPIRING MINDS: FASHION UPCYCLING
WARREN, OH - 2015

Through the Inspiring Minds Fashion Upcycling program, teenage recipients of the 2015 Raymond John Wean Neighborhood SUCCESS Grant were lead to develop an original textile upcycling project where students would go on to design, craft, and sell upcycled textile products, as well as host workshops teaching younger students how to sew and ‘refashion’ textiles.

After meeting with a core group of students, a set of 8 lessons were created to guided a class of 15 teens, ages 13-17, through field trips, site visits, design workshops, budgeting, production, and sales over a three month period. Various brainstorming tools geared towards socially innovative entrepreneurship were introduced to the group to establish a collective business plan, see the Business Model Canvas below. Through hands-on experience and experimentation students gained tangible organizational and design skills., while exploring processes like tye-dye, sewing, and marketing. Inspiring Minds students went on to use the skills learned through the fashion upcycling program to make creations for a diverse array of occasions, such as school spirit and charity events.