Student voice takes center stage in 6th annual Schools That Can Design Challenge kickoff

There could be filtered water fountains or roller coasters or even elevators for the elderly. There’s no telling what Newark’s middle schoolers will come up with for the 6th annual Schools That Can National Design Challenge and Fellowship. 

On Wednesday,  students from public, private and charter schools in Newark gathered virtually to help a local non-profit solve a design challenge. This year’s non-profit - Newark Symphony Hall - is asking Newark’s youth for help in redesigning its streetscape and parking lot. And on February 23, teams of students will pitch their designs for the new and improved streetscape to a panel of decision makers. 

In pre-COVID years, students used crafting materials like LEGOs, figurines and felt. But when the Design Challenge moved online, young people began using software like TinkerCAD, Adobe, Google Suites and Microsoft to bring their designs to life.  

The digital-first mentality has transformed this one-day event into a month-long program where students learn in-demand skills through solving a real world challenge.

“Our mission is around hands-on, real world learning. How do you prepare schools to prepare their students for real success in their future careers? Doing that with real, meaningful, experience is the most important thing,” said Erin Sweeney, Executive Director of Schools That Can Newark. 

“With COVID, our mission has never been more important. COVID has shown us that we need to prepare our students with the skills they need to adapt, be flexible and be available for the different types of work of the future, whatever that looks like.”

During Wednesday’s virtual kick-off event, Newark Symphony Hall’s President and CEO Taneshia Nash Laird presented the challenge to students, teachers and volunteers, showing young people there’s a real person and a real client behind this challenge, which, Sweeney says, is the key to increased student engagement.

“It’s that element that makes it real,” Sweeney said. “The judges are real decision makers and they’re writing notes and they’re listening to what these young people have to say.”

“It’s one of the first times that students are starting to realize that their voice matters and that adults are listening to them. I think that’s so valuable. So for us, the client is one of the most important pieces to this because if you don’t have a real project with a real client who actually wants the feedback from middle schoolers, then it’s just a school project.”

Schools That Can is a systems-level partner within the Newark Youth Workforce Collaborative, a collective approach to creating a school-to-workforce pipeline. And as the backbone of the Collaborative, Newark Opportunity Youth Network (NOYN) works to support its partner programs with data, strategy and fundraising.

“The work that Schools That Can has done with the Design Challenge shows that student engagement, academic rigor, and career-focused education are vital to the success of public education,” said Robert Clark, CEO of NOYN. “The more that the education young people receive is connected to a variety of careers, the more likely it is that they will remain connected to school. The best way to prevent the continued mass disconnection of students is the redesign of school to prepare young people for the careers of tomorrow. I look forward to seeing the impact this program has for years to come.”

And while COVID remains a factor in the Design Challenge plans, Sweeney feels confident that the challenge will continue whether students are remote learning, hybrid learning or fully in-person. “We’ll just adjust,” she said. “Either way, it’s the same program.”

About Newark Opportunity Youth Network

Newark Opportunity Youth Network (NOYN) is New Jersey’s leading advocate of opportunity youth with a body of replicable initiatives that are designed to address youth disconnection. These initiatives, organized around four key elements of Education, Workforce Development, Policy Advocacy, and Systems Building, work in tandem to accomplish NOYN’s mission to re-engage opportunity youth while drastically changing systems that inhibit their success.