Final Thoughts

Well, it was quite a semester. We experienced good days, and bad days. While the bad days seem to stick out in our minds, the Design Club overall seemed to be a success. Per the students' surveys and just the individual-type interviews we completed, it was obvious that basically every Casey student who stuck around till the end basically loved it and would do it again. One thing that certainly seems obvious upon looking back is the varying success of the different activities. The two that seemed to be the most popular, based on how everyone spent the bulk of their time on one or the other, were the sustainable communities and the green roofs. From this it seems clear that to everyone, the best activities are those that are hands on and involve everyone from start to finish. The other activities, like the carbon calculator and activity packets, were obviously less interesting and exciting. Also, when the architect came and essentially gave a lecture concerning the new school, it was quite obvious that it was not quite as successful, and the only part that the students seemed to enjoy was getting to see the designs for the new school. I think these were important lessons to learn about working with middle schoolers, which certainly helped us near the end, and will help the CU students and the future of the class to find success in future participatory work. As I said, the Casey Design Club was truly a successful program, despites its flaws and problems along the way. While there are things to improve for the future, everyone learned something valuable and EVERYONE can take something away from this great experience; I was glad to be a part of it.