through design

MOVING AN IDEA TO REALITY

In 2019, Rachel Wagner of through design engaged architect Tiersa Wodash, Ecolibrium3 director Jodi Slick, and members of the Duluth School District’s Office of Education Equity to pitch an idea for specialized instruction related to design, focused toward students whose needs aren’t met by their current educational culture. The discussions led to the creation of a new extracurricular program operating largely outside the traditional school system and curriculum. 

Outside the Box provides activities and experiences related to design fields and construction trades to middle school youth who experience barriers to achievement, and offers opportunities to develop and practice creative problem solving skills. The program emphasizes design thinking, because of the powerful way this tool can transform students' engagement with their education, their lives, and their communities.

Importantly, design thinking also promotes the concept of failure as a necessary part of a bigger process, rather than a signal of defeat. Failure is encouraged, in the sense that the program supports exploration, experimentation, and thinking (and being) Outside the Box. This is crucial. For students who have been or are in danger of being failed by traditional education, Outside the Box offers an engaging, nonjudgmental place for learning.

developing a program

Outside the Box began as an incubation project at Ecolibrium3, with guidance from Eco3 director Jodi Slick. Co-founders Rachel Wagner and Tiersa Wodash convened an advisory committee to help identify the priorities and needs of stakeholders, developed the program structure, and delivered pilot activities over the course of a year. Building on the success of the pilot activities and youth agency partnerships, the co-founders wrote a proposal for continued funding and the program was awarded funding for a second year.

As co-directors, Rachel and Tiersa ran the administrative side of the program, raised funds (mainly through grant-writing), coordinated the creation and delivery of activities, and also provided some instruction. Most instructors are recruited from community creatives: artists, tradespeople, and makers.

The pandemic curtailed second year programming, and directors responded with the creation of take-home instruction kits, offering self-guided hands-on activities without the need for digital access. Supplemental grants funded the development and delivery of specialized activities focused on architecture and renewable energy.  In its second year of operation, the demand for programming surpassed projections.

At the end of 2021, the co-directors raised funds and guided the transformation and transition plan for Outside the Box to become a program of the Duluth Folk School. You can find it here.

THE Solar Storytelling PROJECT

Outside the Box takes an adaptive approach to programming, and COVID-19 has put that to the test. In March 2020, the second event in the Here Comes the Sun solar energy workshop series was cancelled due to the pandemic. Rachel Wagner reimagined the project as a video series, and secured additional funding.

Solar Storytelling is a series of three short videos introducing middle and high school aged students to solar energy as environmental and economic opportunity. Stories feature practitioners in the renewable energy sector from BIPOC communities, including Bob Blake, founder of Native Sun Community Power Development and Solar Bear, Nestor Gomez Jimenez, CEO of Litty Solar, and Analyah Schlaeger dos Santos, Youth Coordinator at Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light.

AICHO youth participate in the project, learning about solar energy as they engage in videography activities from both sides of the camera. Professionals share their passion for solar and their desire to cultivate that passion in young people. Youth are fundamental in creating a sustainable future, and channeling the energy of our young people gives the renewable energy movement that much more momentum. The videos can be seen here, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcVM1lQfMxVyxqNTcmiJ5fA, accessible to a much larger and broader audience than could have been reached with the original in-person event.