November 4, 2009
Visual Advocacy--> DIC Project Page Revised
Nearly half of all high school students in Kansas City do not graduate. Most students note a lack of connection with school, boredom, and personal challenges contributing to their decision to drop out. Zeal is a speaker series designed to get high school kids excited about finishing school and going to college. Speakers would come from the local community and include a range of athletes, artists, and corporate professionals. Zeal would provide students with five speaker sessions during the school year, one every two months. The speakers talk to students about their careers and what they had to accomplish to reach that point. After the session, the speaker would give a workshop for interested students where they demonstrate a skill used in their profession.
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2 comments:
hey corie. don't forget your project title -- zeal.
but i'd recommend something that describes more concretly what "zeal" is, within that title. so maybe use "Zeal: a blah blah thing" so you have the cool title, with a more practical descriptor following it.
the last few sentences get a little "matter of fact" and aren't too exciting sounding. i wonder if you can re-word a bit so it's a little more poetic sounding, or so the language "sells" the idea a bit more. don't go crazy here -- subtle changes will make a substantial difference.
last sentence, for example (just off the top of my head): "post-session workshops would offer a chance for meaningful personal interaction as students learn skills from a seasoned professional." that's not great, but do you see how it's a bit more spicy through using a few more adjectives like "meaningful", "seasoned" and so on.
i'm not sure what your word count is, but be mindful of that.
a few more thoughts about your project in general, while i'm pondering it.
work out your framework for the speaker series first -- you know you want local professionals. you know you want them every two months or whatever. continue thinking about those details -- what kind of range of people do you want? from what professions? what will motivate 9th graders? what will the workshops be like? how will you determine their form? would you talk to the professional and discuss some ideas for what the workshop will be? how long should they be?
think of anything you can do to make this series dynamic, engaging, interactive. something that involves the kids as much as possible. josh's ideas of helping them design some visual aids, or keynote slides, is a smart idea. i would even consider how the auditorium is set up to either separate the speaker from the kids or to immerse the speaker amongst the kids, so they feel close to the person.
THEN, once you have worked out the "human-to-human interactions", think about how design and graphic design can facilitate those interactions as much as possible. how can GD make the experience better? it can provide exciting promo posters. it can do X, Y, Z. anything you can think of to use your design skillz -- thinking and making -- to make this the best speaker series ever, and always remember it's to inspire these kids to stay in school so they can achieve their dreams. always remember that and you will do well.
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