Student Makers Turn Vision to Reality in the Learning Studio – Digital Promise

Student Makers Turn Vision to Reality in the Learning Studio

June 30, 2017 | By

As part of HP and Microsoft’s Reinvent the Classroom initiative, Digital Promise Global is directing a global network of Learning Studios designed for student-centered, experiential learning. Each Learning Studio is equipped with powerful technology for creation and collaboration.

This is a story from the Learning Studio at Leadership Public Schools, Hayward in Hayward, California.

Three high school juniors are bringing their vision to reality in the Learning Studio at Leadership Public Schools, Hayward (LPS Hayward). Students Nuh, Karlo, and Vinh are launching Temple, an apparel brand with a mission to support design, manufacturing, and marketing opportunities for young immigrants in the United States.

“Nuh was always bringing up the idea of a clothing brand and then the [Learning Studio] gave us the opportunity to make that idea a reality,” Vinh said. Nuh added, “I thought it would be cool to run a business and really follow a passion of mine. Since this is something big, I did not want to tackle it on my own. So I brought Karlo and Vinh along.”

Nuh, Karlo, and Vinh developed the social mission of their brand in response to the Global Goals, Local Solutions Design Challenge prompt, which asks Learning Studio students to use one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to address an issue in their local community.

“We based it off of the 8th goal, ‘decent work and economic growth,’” Karlo explained. “We wanted to help immigrants because we all came from immigrant families and want to give them opportunities like our families and be able to express themselves. We also wanted to do better for our community.”

With the support of their teacher Lucy Rivera, the three recently ran their first Kickstarter, which successfully raised over $1,000 to purchase equipment to produce a second batch of shirts over their summer break. For the next run of production, they plan to add to their original Temple logo design by including artwork from their peers who are also first-generation Americans or recent immigrants.

The Temple logo, as featured on their Kickstarter. Nuh, Karlo, and Vinh say the design of the logo took months of iteration, feedback and re-iteration before arriving at the final design.

Nuh, Karlo, and Vinh place a high value on receiving input from peers and mentors to help further their brand. “The most important thing for us right now is having mentors,” Karlo said. “Having someone with more experience or just a little more knowledge than us can help guide us in the right direction and become more successful. Also, having advice from different perspectives can assist us in solving problems or creating better designs.”

Although their collaboration started within the walls of LPS Hayward, Nuh, Karlo, and Vinh see this venture as instrumental to their personal development beyond high school. Vinh says that working on Temple has cultivated his creative confidence, while Karlo discovered his skills with communication and business development. “This is an experience, not a project,” Nuh said. “A school project is done for a grade. This [experience is about] taking on a challenge and really growing as individuals, whether that be related to collaboration skills, personal skills, and the list goes on and on.”

Nuh, Karlo, and Vinh plan to continue working on Temple through the next academic year and after graduation from high school. They have developed a five-year plan, by the end of which they aim to have fully brought the social mission of Temple to fruition. “I hope to change the community by setting an example and inspiring others to take a risk or challenge in life,” Karlo said. “I want to show people that there is no limitation on what they are able to achieve.”

For more stories from the Learning Studio, browse the Learning Studios Story Gallery.

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