When Colorado Academy Fifth Graders complete their Lower School journey this spring, they won’t just be leaving with fond memories and essential preparation for Middle School—they’ll be departing with the knowledge that their ideas could shape the experiences of all the elementary-age Mustangs who will follow in their footsteps. This year’s “Voices of Change” (VOC) capstone project challenges the Fifth Grade students to redesign spaces in and around CA’s Lower School, giving them a sense of ownership—as researchers, architects, and visionaries—of the environment in which they learn, socialize, and grow.
Now in its fourth annual iteration, Voices of Change was inaugurated to mark an important milestone for CA students: making the leap from doing well in school to using what you’ve learned in school to do good in the world around you. It’s a big moment, notes Lower School technology Instructor Travis Reynolds, who originated the capstone along with the Fifth Grade teaching team—and one that will continue to resonate throughout the rest of the students’ time at CA and beyond.
“The transformation that’s been at the heart of the VOC concept from the very beginning is helping kids see themselves as change-makers in their world,” Reynolds explains. “Prior to this, the Fifth Grade may have studied great historical figures who brought about change in their time, but this project-based approach puts kids in the driver’s seat: The real-world stakes mean they’re now the ones discovering the challenges in their spaces and lives, coming up with possible solutions, and developing something whose impact they can actually see around them.”
Lower School Principal Angie Crabtree was the first to suggest the idea: What if this year’s Fifth Graders turned their attention to the Lower School itself, seeking out opportunities to improve classrooms, common spaces, and even outdoor areas for the benefit of all? Reynolds realized immediately that giving students the chance to tackle something so local and so relevant to their lives could be deeply meaningful. “Years later they could look back and say, ‘Oh, I planted that tree,’ or, ‘I designed that space or that aspect of the playground.’”
A second big benefit quickly became apparent. Since the students were going to redesign their own school, they would have easy access to all the stakeholders, experts, and research opportunities they could want: Their own peers, teachers, and staff members would be their main “clients,” and they could easily schedule meetings to interview them about their experiences and seek their input on design ideas.
This Design Thinking approach—evaluating user needs, brainstorming and iterating possible solutions, and repeating the cycle based on user feedback—is common across CA, but Voices of Change may represent students’ first full-blown experience with this proven way of engaging with the real world. That fact appealed to Director of Visual & Performing Arts & US Studio Art Senior Instructor Katy Hills, whom Reynolds recruited to help with the architectural side of the project.
“I was inspired by the way that the VOC project pushes Fifth Graders to think about solving challenges faced by members of their own community,” says Hills, whose training includes architectural drafting in addition to the arts. “That’s what our Juniors and Seniors are doing in the REDI Lab; that’s what our students are doing in the Upper School Engineering & Design Department.”
“As educators,” Hills continues, “one of our biggest aspirations is to teach children that they have the capability to create things that never existed before—to make something out of nothing.”
Real-world learning
The students began their work early in the second half of the school year, by touring the Lower School with Crabtree and identifying the main spaces they would redesign: a Pre-K classroom, a portion of the Lower School library, an elementary-grade classroom, and the entrance to the Dos Chappell nature trail adjacent to the Lower School on the northernmost edge of campus. Lighting, furnishings, accessibility, signage, and almost anything else was on the table.
Next, they interviewed the users of these spaces: fellow students, teachers, CA’s librarians, and others. With an understanding of their clients’ likes and dislikes, wants and needs, the Fifth Graders proceeded to brainstorm via digital “vision boards” to quickly capture ideas, images, products, and references that inspired their thinking. Kid-friendly mood lighting, clever storage solutions, outdoor information boards, and unique seating approaches quickly filled the students’ shared iPad brainstorms.
Hills then stepped in to give students a crash course in architectural drawing by hand—the same technique she teaches in her introductory architecture course for Upper School students. “I thought there would be a steeper learning curve for the Fifth Graders,” she recalls, “but they picked up the basics just as quickly as my Tenth and Eleventh Grade students.” The designers began drafting floor plans with vellum paper overlays that they could use to experiment with different layouts, furniture, colors, and other changes.
Throughout the rest of the school year, they will continue to meet with their key stakeholders to revise and refine their blueprints, and finally they will turn their approved plans into 3D models using materials such as recycled cardboard, fabric, pom-poms, pipe cleaners, and even components they fabricate using the 3D printers and laser cutter in Reynolds’ Wonder Workshop. Another option will be rendering a digital “walkthrough” of a redesigned space—just like architects and designers who present their clients with immersive proposals.
The culmination of Voices of Change is an end-of-year “poster walk,” during which students showcase their ideas on tri-fold posterboard and answer questions from students, teachers, and administrators, including Crabtree and Head of School Dr. Mike Davis. The interactive session mirrors similar events held in the Upper School, during which students in CA’s Advanced Studies and Research (ASR) courses share their final projects with parents and guests at an evening symposium.
But it’s not getting to the final product or presentation that matters most, according to Reynolds. It is the organic process of collaborating with peers and community members to design novel solutions: “When I talk to designers, people in higher education, they tell me, ‘This is what we do as professionals. This is what we’re doing at the college level.’”
Hills adds that Voices of Change and its Design Thinking emphasis challenge past educational approaches emphasizing individual achievement over collaborative problem solving. “An architect doesn’t just dream up plans on their own and then hand them off to be built. That’s not how real creativity happens.”
Evolution of a signature program
For Reynolds, perhaps the most exciting thing about this year’s ongoing VOC projects is the way they seem to break down barriers for students who might not typically see themselves as architects or designers. “Children of all shapes, sizes, colors, and abilities begin to perceive themselves as change-makers—empowered to think at a higher level about their world and wonder how they might make it better.”
True to form, the Voices of Change concept did not launch four years ago, perfectly implemented, in its current shape. Rather, Reynolds and his Fifth Grade colleagues followed an iterative process much like the one their students employ, aiming to improve and refine the capstone from year to year.
At first, Reynolds recounts, Fifth Graders each completed individual research and design projects. “That was a heavy load for all of us,” he says. “It was quite a bang to have 60 students delivering their own TED-style presentations at the culmination, but it wasn’t exactly what we were after.”
Years two and three adopted a small-group model, with students teaming up to tackle challenges presented to them by community organizations such as the Denver Zoo and the National Renewable Energy Lab. The huge scope of some of those issues—and that fact that key stakeholders weren’t readily accessible—made Voices of Change more aspirational than productive.
This year feels just right, says Reynolds, with students excited to engage with people and spaces they already know to create something everyone can appreciate. Fifth Graders have also been inspired by the rigor Reynolds and Hills have built into the VOC timeline: Rather than jumping right into creating whatever they can dream up, the students were encouraged to absorb the feedback of their space’s users before carefully progressing to brainstorming and design phases. Crabtree has pledged that the results of this year’s Voices of Change will genuinely be used to help shape the reimagining of CA’s Lower School, a long-term goal that’s in its earliest stages.
That commitment is an indicator of just how much more than models the Fifth Grade is building this year. The months-long process of collaborating with stakeholders and peers, refining and iterating their designs, seeking feedback, and ultimately “pitching” their ideas through public presentations nurtures confidence that even the most formidable challenges can be conquered. All it takes is the belief that anyone can be a change-maker.