Hasta La Ideas

You might have seen our other Pepsi Refresh posts earlier this week (SMIT here and Sourcemap here), and here’s another very vote-worthy candidate for your consideration: Studio H, Project H’s high school design/build program in rural North Carolina. Emily Pilloton explains above, and the written pitch follows:

Studio H will be a 1-year high school curriculum for the Bertie County School District in rural North Carolina that combines design thinking, vocational trade training, and community citizenship to equip low-opportunity teenagers with critical creative problem solving skills for life. Over 2 semesters (Fall/Spring), students will collaborate to design, develop, and prototype a built community project (i.e. bus shelters for the school bus system, a co-op greenhouse, or a public park). The following summer, they will be offered paid summer jobs to actually construct the project. Studio H will empower students through team-based hands-on learning, engage educational capacities to the fullest, and provide a diverse skillset for the next generation to access new job markets, improve their community and excel academically in the state’s poorest and most racially polarized county. $50,000 will allow us to build out a shop space and pay for the first year’s construction materials.

Project H is #12, incredibly close to joining the top 10 who will be awarded the grant. Let’s help get them there!

This, by the way, does not rule out voting for the the other projects we’ve supported—according to the Pepsi Refresh Everything website, you can vote for up to 10 projects a day until February 28th.

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