As a first year graduate student, I began working with the Industrial Design Outreach (iDo) program in the fall of 2006. At that time, the program was three years-old and rapidly growing. As the end of the fall semester approached, students, like me, began looking forward to the spring semester with renewed motivation and inspiration. Under the influence of enthusiastic student volunteers, iDo was launched into a period of great success.

Spring 2007 marked a new era for iDo, the seeds of a new curriculum-the Community Bench Project, were planted. Conceptualized by Martin Linder, the founding director of iDo, the curriculum was designed by student members including: Dianna Silva, Michelle Steed, Clarissa Soong, Patricia Daugherty, Phillip La and Ryan Pugh. These highly motivated students helped to run the first Community Bench Project during the 2007/2008 academic year at San Francisco’s Thurgood Marshall Academic High School (TMHS) located in the Bay View/Hunters Point district. When iDo launched this unique exceptionally based design curriculum at TMHS, they were embraced by the community and given a dedicated studio on campus. Community support of this magnitude showed students that the project was something to be proud of, while also enhancing student morale, individual performance, academic achievement, and interpersonal relations.

As the days, weeks, and months passed, students who were once failing where now getting A’s and B’s. Students who were reticent became enthusiastic and students who struggled to learn were making unimaginable strides in knowledge acquisition, retention, and application. In one word, the experience was REMARKABLE. Because of these successes, iDo received an invitation to display the finished Community Bench at Young at Art show hosted by the De Young Museum of San Francisco in May 2008; iDo has also experienced an increase in opportunities to expand the program beyond San Francisco.

The first opportunity presented itself as the offer of a permanent home at TMHS, where an iDo inspired and dedicated industrial arts class would make a second Community Bench, during the 2008/2009 school year. The second opportunity was the conceptualization of a Kite Project, which connects design and literature through the use of experiential curriculum that engages creative analysis. And finally, opportunities presented themselves in the form of grants. Monies granted from The Miranda Lux Foundation and The Fear Not Foundation are making our current and future endeavors possible.

iDo is flourishing because of the generosity of funders, Martin Linder, and iDo mentors. Since launching the second Community Bench in October of 2008, twenty-four students have begun a remarkable journey of self discovery, which will forever impact their lives. Because of such success, the program is preparing to launch its third website-utilizing web 2.0 technologies, which will enable iDo to partner with design and experiential learning programs in countries like England, Korea, and Italy.

Ultimately, iDo would not be possible without its dedicated and hard working team from San Francisco State University. Their focus on curriculum development, marketing, product development, research, and recruitment have earned iDo invitations to other schools, speaking engagements across the country, and many individual and collaborative awards. Because of the many years of dedicated involvement by current and previous mentors, iDo will continue to grow and inspire students like myself to pursue careers in design, education, and community leadership.

For more information on the Industrial Design Outreach program please visit http://www.industrialdesignoutreach.org or contact Martin Linder at (415) 338-6525.

posted by Holly Burton  # 10:26 AM 0 Comments Links to this post