Category: Projects Spring 2017

Date: March 8, 2017

Location: Stayer Center

Time: 9:30 am

It was a great morning with cinnamon bagels, coffee, and great company. It was really enjoyable to see everything come together on the board: our journey map, the user interviews, the expert interviews, the analogous immersions, the ethnographic research etc. I started to see the great benefits the design thinking and the sticky notes. It really helps to see patterns in the research that we’ve done and the information we have gathered from different sources.

We started with the journey map. Entice, Engage, Enter, Exit, and Extend. The key takeaway from Entice is that we need to figure out how to attract students from all of the middle schools. There is currently no academic advertising, it seems that SBSC only allows them to advertise the Arts magnet. We need to figure out the rules pertaining to this issue. In terms of Engage, discipline is one of the big issues. Our clients pointed out that we need to figure out how to flip the high expulsion rate from a negative to a positive. We need to show that it is a no-nonsense school that one can feel safe at and concentrate on their studies. The building itself is old and doesn’t look the best. Given the fact that it is an Arts magnet, we can leverage the skills of the students to spruce the school up a little with murals and paintings around the school. Painting the lockers to a brighter color could make a big difference as well. The extend step is also key because we need to be able to show the success of the students that have graduated from Clay. We need to show that they have gone on to good colleges or good jobs. We need to connect these graduates back to the community and middle schools to encourage students to go to Clay. Word of mouth is key. If people look at Clay in a positive light as a place that equipped and helped their role models become who they are, it will encourage more students to attend Clay in order to emulate them.

While working through the journey map we were able to make connections to the users and their various characteristics. Sophia, for example, is very interested in Arts, yet she chose to go to Adams high school because of the IB program. Additionally, we were able to see from Maria McKenna that she was concerned about safety, high expectations, and keeping their kids involved/out of trouble. We were able to see that Clay has a lot to offer we just need to figure out a way to show everyone that and advertise to the middle schools and parents in a target manner. We need statistics for those that would like statistics, we need simple and to the point advertisements for those that desire that, we need to potentially translate some materials for those that speak a different language, we need simple language for those that might not have gone to college. We need to work on student-teacher relations and ensuring that students feel supported and cared for.

It was really insightful to have Principal Eid and the English teacher there to see all of the research that we have put in and give us their feedback. They did a good job of directing us and keeping us focused by asking, “What does this mean? Or, so what?” Oftentimes, we didn’t have the answers to their questions, but it means we need to do more research and legwork. But I think it was really cool to show them that Clay is a good school. As Professor McKenna said, it is “South Bend’s best kept secret.” I think it made them happy to see that and gave them hope. But there are difficult questions like the reputation and word of mouth that need to be answered and solved that will take time. It will take time for the word of mouth to spread for the eldest children in some families to attend Clay and for their younger siblings to follow. It will take time to re-establish the reputation of Clay in the middle schools and with the parents. We need people to be proud of Clay for it to have an identity. It is not second fiddle to Adams or Penn, it is Clay and its a great place for a student to learn in its own right.

Work Around Assignment

The following three images are all work-arounds that I noticed on my vacation in Paris and here on ND’s campus.

This sign was hanging in a crowded tourist area upside down so that the arrow would point in the correct direction.

This bike was locked to the edge of a garden instead of to a bike rack like it might have been.

This bike seat is covered by a plastic bag so that it stays dry in the rain.

10 February 2017

Visit/Tour of Clay High School

Location: Clay High School

Time: 8-10 am

Participants: Clay Team A and Team B, Principal Eid

After parking my car in the main parking lot, I walked in through the main door. From the outside, Clay looks like a normal high school, a little old but still in decent condition. After signing in with security, I make my way to the principal’s office. The hallways are lined with plaques, trophies, and artwork, reminiscent of my old high school. We sit down in Principal Eid’s office and discuss the history of Clay, our goals, and Principal Eid’s goals for the project. During this time, we are given a lot of literature on the South Bend Community School Corporation, the various high schools and middle schools. We get numbers on AP/dual class offerings and enrollment. We then are guided on a tour of the school by Principal Eid himself. It is clear that the Arts are a big part of the school as it is an Arts magnet. But another key part of the school is the slate of CTE courses available for those that want to enter the workforce out of high school. The CTE courses include welding, culinary arts, auto mechanic instruction, CNA, EMTN.

Key quotes:

“Penn receives 11,000 dollars per student whereas we only get 6,600 per student because of property taxes”

“The voucher system hit the public schools hard”

“The corporation has been losing between 300-500 kids per year, where are those kids going?”

“There is brain drain towards Adams”

“Once bussing started and Clay was no longer a neighborhood school, the demographics changed. You started to see more diversity. You also started to see more gang affiliation”

“We used to have 4-5 fights a day…gangs taking over parts of the school. There was an intersection that teachers used to avoid at all costs. In my first week I expelled 22 students for gang affiliation and destruction of environment. I was trying to set the tone”

“There was a surge of 773, 312 area codes from Chicago. We were inheriting poverty from another state”

“Right now we are at a student body of 1143. Ideally, I’d like us to be at 1400”

“Lasalle has all the smartypants and most of them end up going to Adams”

“Every morning, I watch 80 of the smartest students get bussed to Adams that are from our(Clay) district.”

Big issue

Clay has a reputation that precedes itself: poor, diverse, not where high achieving students go. Adams is seen as the crown jewel of the SBSC by the school board, the community, the parents, and the students in middle school. How do you make Clay a place where ALL students want to go because it is a good school on a number of fronts. It has strong academics(AP classes, good teachers will prepare you for college), good arts(for those that are interested, supplements and improves learning in other subjects like math and science), it is safe, it will push students to their potential, it has good athletics(something to be proud of and compete in), it has a good community(where one can feel supported and cared about).

3 Key takeways

1. Clay is dealing with a vastly different socioeconomic demographic than Penn, many students on free and reduced lunch. This also means that there are fewer financial resources for the school to work with.
2. Clay used to/still does have the reputation of being the “thug” school. Lots of fights, poorer demographic.
3. Clay has tried to improve itself by getting more AP classes, CTE class offerings, increasing safety.