Design The Future: high schoolers develop solutions to challenges of persons with physical disabilities

We wrote about this event last year when NorCal SCI co-founder, Franklin Elieh, participated in his first-ever Design The Future program which puts high school students on a team with a person with a disability who has identified a challenge for them to solve that would test their design aptitude and innovation. And now, this year, the program has grown to five locations in the country.

The 6-day, fully immersive design thinking summer program is seeking Project Partners at this time. Project partners will share about themselves and serve as mentors to the students during the design process. The Project Partners receive the prototype/product at the end of the week, and are paid a stipend for their mentorship with the students.  Locations of this year’s programs are:

• University of Louisville (Louisville, KY): June 3-8, June 10-15

• Stanford University (Stanford, CA): June 17-22, June 24-29, July 15-20

• Boston University (Boston, MA): June 24-29

• College of Alameda (Oakland, CA): July 8-13

• University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS): July 29-August 3, August 5-10

This is truly a unique opportunity to open the eyes of the future generation to the unique challenges faced by the disability community and how their creativity can help solve them. The students are eager to please and, as you might imagine, have a ton of energy to expend on your project. You can read about Franklin’s experience HERE.

The sooner you apply, the better your chances of getting paired with a team. APPLY HERE.