Service Learning | Secondary Education

Alexa Krutzler, Rachel Schultz

With the initial start of this service-learning project, we always had the vision of working with the young and aspiring generation of interior designers, and those interested in design but not sure of the path they wanted to take. The idea for this service-learning project was to help young adults at St. Augustine High School in grades 11 and 12 by providing an introductory course planned over the summer of 2020 and to provide lessons to these students with the assistance of the teacher over the course of 2 weeks in the fall semester. The introductory plan would focus on first discussing what exactly interior design is, the types of career paths of an interior designer, what student life is like, and the types of things you may learn as a design student. Additionally, we would then provide the students with tasks such as creating mood boards, understanding how to draw in perspective, and ways in which they could explore interior design in their own homes (completed as a micro-refinishing project).

The intention here was to not only prepare those who may be interested in applying to schools that offer design programs but to also allow those who aren’t as sure of their future career paths to explore different options. Our lesson plans focused on the elements and principles of design, the types of design eras that have existed throughout history (such as Rococo or Baroque), and the phases of design projects. We hope that the students were able to gain valuable information in the 2-week course that we provided for them. Additionally, we hope that this project inspires others to reach out to the aspiring generation of young adults who may need guidance in understanding the types of career paths that exist for them (aside from design). As well, we believe it's important to let individuals explore their creativity through a range of different mediums, especially those in the design world.

A final poster showing the different activities completed for the service-learning project with grade 11 and 12 students, and the project tasks completed over the course of 2 weeks.