DESIGNER | LIFE LONG LEARNER | STORYTELLER
STUDIO H - hope through design
Design programs in high schools are a rare entity. I was fortunate enough to have one in my high school. I took every class my school offered and competed for four years in the state Minnesota Technology Challenge. I would spend every minute I could in that classroom; it felt like my second home some days. Without my high school design program I probably wouldn't be where I am today.
A school in Bertie County North Carolina has recently gained the benefits of a design program in their high school thanks to Emily Pilloton and Matthew Miller, founders of Studio H, the educational initiative of Project H Design. I came across Studio H in an article about the Top 10 Design Initiatives to Watch in 2012 , and was intrigued by the concept of using architecture in a high school to better a community. I began searching for more information and what I found truly inspired me.
Studio H works to connect the power of design to the people who need it most, and the places where it can make a real and lasting difference. Emily and Matthew established Studio H in Bertie County in an effort to “give students the skills they need to succeed, while building the assets the community needs to survive.” Bertie County is one of the poorest counties in North Carolina with one in three children living in poverty. Thanks to the efforts of Studio H, students have been able to create projects for their community to benefit and grow from. In the article, Get Local, written by founder Emily Pilloton, she describes how “the next generation will be the greatest asset and untapped resource in rural communities’ futures” by creating a connection with the public school system.
What really captivated me about Studio H was when Emily described a ‘light bulb’ moment for one of her students. She describes the moment as one “where design plus education equals impact”. These are the moments that she wakes up for and the reason why she moved to Bertie County. I think we underestimate the power that hands on learning can have on someone’s future. While this student may not go into design, in that moment design was able to inspire her and get her excited to complete a task she was otherwise unmotivated to do. Everyone learns differently and for those students who learn best by doing or through artistic expression, Studio H is allowing them to share their talents with a community that was otherwise failing them.
In the article Emily states the reason she is in Bertie County, home of swamps, heat, and Bojangles Chicken shack (the only place to obtain WIFI internet in the county) is “because [she] want[s] to design, to do what [she] know[s] how to do, and to light a fire for the next generation in a rural community that [she] [has] come to call home.”
I love this reasoning! Yes she could be back at a firm in San Francisco, CA but instead she is designing in the way that she knows how all while having an impact on Bertie County and its future generations. It makes so much sense to me to look at life in that way. I love design and I wouldn’t do anything else, but I love the idea of working in an atmosphere where I get to have an impact on the next generation of designers too. I had an amazing teacher in high school that inspired me and I would love to be that person for someone else one day. Help them navigate their way through the world of design and find a passion for it the way I have.
After some research I can see why Studio H is one of the top design initiatives to watch for in the next year. They are using design in the high school as an approach to change a community and give hope to future generations. I am excited for the chance to meet Emily in a few weeks when she comes to speak at North Dakota State University as part of the Department of Architecture and Landscape Architecture’s Beaux Arts week.
-becker | march 2012