At the start of this year, U-High staff and administration made several decisions to improve the status of Design Labs. Design Labs launched last year in order to provide students with a chance to learn about what they want to learn and pursue their passions during the school day.
The frequency and format of how Design Labs will meet has shifted so that participating students will no longer have to miss class to work on their Design Labs. Last year, the sophomore class participated in the experience. This year, the freshman and junior classes are now included.
“I think [Design Labs] are to explore something you’re passionate about and just have a little project where you can decide what you wanna do,” sophomore Allie King said.
Several current juniors are unsure about working with younger students in their Design Labs.
“I don’t like the fact that there’s more grades involved,” junior Reagan Hedman said. “Based off the cooking group, I don’t think it will be as fun because it’s a bunch of people I don’t know.”
Last year, the sophomores completed Design Labs. They had the opportunity to present them in a presentation format in Spring 2022.
“My personal goal is that we should do this kind of stuff more and as often as possible,” Brody Walworth, one of the staff members who pitched Design Labs, said. “I think this is what school should look like.”
Design labs give students an opportunity to work on a project that they are passionate about and isn’t for a grade. They have the freedom to discover a long list of topics, including cooking, photography, woodworking, composing, scrapbooking, bible study, and several others.
“Design labs were a break from school, but I don’t think they really did much to advance my academic learning,” junior Ani Kim said.
Last year, Design Labs ran as a trial to see if they would be a good addition to the school’s curricular offerings.
“The feedback that we got from students and people that ran the Design Labs were very affirmative, [saying] that they were a good thing,” Walworth said. “There were definitely some things we wanted to change.”
According to this survey, conducted at the end of the Design Lab experience last year, of the entire sophomore class who participated in Design Labs, 61 completed the survey. Forty-three indicated this was a “valuable” or “highly valuable” experience.
Students have just recently picked their Design Lab topics for this year. Over the next few months during ‘Schedule B’ days, students will continue to formulate and work on their projects.
On Sunday, November 19, students received a survey to finalize their decisions of which design lab they will be participating in throughout the remainder of the school year.
“I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be composing my own jazz piece in the style of a big band jazz group,” King said.
A goal for this year is to get more staff and community members involved in leading Design Labs.
“We’re going to work with community partners to try to get people off site,” Walworth said.
Many students worry about pursuing Design Labs they feel most interested in, concerned that they may be the only one passionate about that subject.
“I’d like to do something more based on what I think I want to do in the future, so maybe a business thing,” Kim said. “I didn’t know how to get started and I didn’t want to be paired with random people.”
Hedman also expressed concern about choosing what she really wanted to do.
“I wanted to do a mechanical engineering because that’s what I’m think about doing for college, and I wanted to do something with a car, like how last year they revamped a four wheeler,” Hedman said. “But I was scared I wasn’t going to have any friends in there, and I didn’t want to be in a group with a bunch of guys.”
Many students decided to join Design Labs their friends were in.
“I’d rather do something that seems interesting with someone I know, than do something I really love with no one I know,” sophomore Grace Myers said.
Walworth said he was not surprised some people chose their topic based on being with friends.
“Human beings are social beings,” Walworth said. “I don’t think it necessarily detracts from the experience as long as they put some effort into what they’re doing.”
After finals, in May, students will get a few days to devote to their Design Labs and present their completed projects.
“There’s going to be something to look forward to at the end of school and something to leave on a high note rather than watching the clock tick,” Walworth said.
