Industrial Design Outreach (iDo) is a program led by Professor Martin Linder that puts creativity back into high schools through the help of SF State students studying in the Department of Design and Industry (DAI).
The budget cuts affecting all of us: public schools and California universities. First to go are art related classes, since academic ones have more priority. But being in a public school, especially in the inner city, lacks a well rounded form of education as it is. To deny students of being able to explore nor develop an artistic side when most of them don’t have that option because of socioeconomic reasons and/or support.
It’s my second semester as a mentor for iDo, and we’re currently finishing up the Community Bench Project with Thurgood Marshall High School.(Shop class retooled at S.F. high school) The students each did their own panel, which will be on the back of the bench showing their interpretation of their version of what community means to them.
As a San Francisco native, I attended public schools and grew in the same neighborhood as these kids. I can very well relate to how a lot of the students go through on a daily basis because I’ve been there. I wish when I was younger I had this kind of a program that presented such hands-on experiences and mentors to show me such opportunity of creativity.
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