INTRODUCTION

Hello! We are the Design For America team that is working with The Woods Project (TWP) this semester. Here is some more about us: 

I’m Chloe Livingston, and I’m a sophomore at Wiess. I wanted to work with the Woods Project because through nature, they empower so many students by bringing them perspective. I am excited to learn more about the organization and find creative solutions to a challenge that they face! 

I’m Sophia Peng, and I’m a freshman at McMurtry. The Woods Project stood out to me because I’m really passionate about education, and partnering with an organization that provides high school students with the unique opportunity to learn through nature sounded really meaningful. I look forward to better understanding the inner-Houston school system through this project, and the barriers certain demographics may face to equal education. 

I’m Tanvi Jadhav, and I’m a senior studying History and Sociology at Lovett College. I am interested in working with the Woods Project, because I am passionate about giving back to the Houston community and working to make outdoors education more equitable for all students.

I’m Caroline Courbois, and I’m a junior Mechanical Engineering student at Martel. I used to work as a backpacking instructor, and saw first-hand the barriers to entry underrepresented minorities face in joining outdoor spaces and communities. As such, I’m very excited to work with The Woods Project this semester to implement creative solutions for the organization.

I’m Isaac Che, a junior at Jones. The Woods Project piqued my interest, as I spent a lot of time outdoors during quarantine in Colorado Springs. I hope to assist the Woods Project in continuing its vision of giving high school students an immersive experience in the outdoors and help them in areas outside of academics.

IDENTIFY

This week, we conducted initial research on the problem space that our team is exploring this semester. The larger question guiding our project is: How Can We (HCW) engage a wider variety of Houston students in understanding that the outdoors is for everyone? By speaking with our community partner, The Woods Project, we learned more about the path that students take throughout their time in TWP programming and the opportunities that are offered for these high school students. We also learned more about the pain points that are currently impacting TWP. Some of the initial questions we are interested in exploring are:

1. How can we guide teachers at schools linked with TWP to advertise the program specifically to more students in target demographics?
2. How can we help points of contacts at these partner schools to encourage diverse participation and have a long lasting program at their school?
3. How can we involve more staff in each school in the advertisement of TWP to students?
4. How can we strengthen the appeal of outdoor experiences to students at inner-city high schools to promote participation in TWP?
5. How can we encourage staff and teachers at these partner schools to reach out to a diverse base of students?
6. How can we incentivize new schools in Houston to form a sustainable contact with TWP?

Next week, in Immerse, we plan to explore these questions further through speaking with users and conducting secondary research.