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Though none of our teams made it through to the next round of competition, they know they have gained valuable skills AND have ideas they may be able to implement at DES!

Their teachers are extremely proud of what they accomplished.

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We were SO fortunate to have Mr. Matt, Mr. Alan, and Ms. Michelle from Fleetwood 11/19. Teams presented a brief overview of their ideas and received feedback in the form of "I like, I wonder, and What if?" Mrs. Smyk also visited to check in and provide feedback.

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The team reviewed and analyzed Google Forms survey responses from parents and students, as well as a simplified version of the survey for grades K–2. They also gathered insights from an interview with a volunteer.

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futurePREP’d - Ottawa Area Intermediate School District

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futurePREP’d - Ottawa Area Intermediate School District

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We finally were able to take all of the information gained during our investigation and start our ideas! Students used a protocol called an ideas quota where they spent 10 minutes writing down ANY idea they had! If they became stuck, we suggested a different point of view: How might Jeff Bezos, Mrs. Gust, Jarod Goff, or Taylor Swift solve this?

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The kids broke up into groups to sort and classify their ideas. The hope is that they were able to work through the "obvious" ideas, and the "crazy" ideas, to get to the sweet spot of a new, useful, but also feasible idea. Each team presented a few possibilities. .

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We were so lucky to get to interview Matt, Michelle, and Alan from Fleetwood Furniture.

https://www.fleetwoodfurniture.com/

Students asked questions about their roles at the company, their background, and why Fleetwood is a great place to work. We gathered tons of insight to help us move forward!

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How might we improve social connections within our school to support well-being and a sense of belonging?

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We created a list of feelings that we have in school.

What makes us feel better when we have uncomfortable feelings?

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The team observed the play of others during our playground break. What does belonging mean? What examples did you see? We created a list of ways that they observed belonging through playground play time.

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Our FABULOUS FIFTEEN!

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We broke up into groups to think about what would make this experience the BEST ever and what would make it the WORST! We took these hopes and fears and came up with norms for our club to abide by.

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For the first two sessions, we wanted to run the team through a very short PBL, in order to give them an overview of all stages of the design process. We ended up with a question about snacks! We began by thinking about all those who might be effected by the driving question.

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The team thought about all those affected by the driving question, then chose three to create empathy maps for.

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The team determined they should interview a volunteer and survey students and parents. They split into small groups to come up with questions that were geared toward different ages.

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Students were able to choose from our narrowed-down list of ideas from the previous week. Each design member created a poster with their design, including labels of how the idea works. When their posters were complete, students broke up into three separate "official" teams, devoted to developing their team's idea! They combined main ideas from their individual poster sessions to create one poster for presenting for the NUFF test.

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Take time to reflect on what went well. What will you change for next year? What feedback did you get from students, the business partner, the authentic audience that can help make this project even better?

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Groups chose three stakeholders they felt would most be affected by our driving question and created empathy maps. They thought about what each stakeholder might be doing, feeling, seeing, and saying.

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Please list speakers and business partners you encountered throughout your journey.

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Students wrote an idea on a sticky note and then passed them partially around the circle as they read others' ideas. They shared aloud and then let those ideas spark new ideas.

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The team took turns classifying their ideas and came up with three main groups: fruits, variations of trail mix, and baked goods/make at home.

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The team voted on the category they most wanted to create a snack from - trail mix! They then decided on the ingredients. Our snack will provide energy for the kids, while being gluten, lactose, and peanut free! It will be fun to try next week!

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Please add quotes from students, parents, authentic audience, and any business/community members you utilized. Please use first names only.

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Almonds, cashews, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and M&Ms

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Field Trip to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts 10/29

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Field Trip to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts 10/29

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Mrs. Whitney Valentine explained how the spaces at the SCA are intentionally designed to encourage interaction. We learned about their core mission — “transforming lives by creating community, connecting people, and spreading joy” — which directly relates to our driving question. We also gained an appreciation for the beauty of the connections formed through the events hosted by the SCA.

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Field Trip to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts

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Field Trip to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts

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Field Trip to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts- Artist Collaboration!

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Field Trip to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts- Artist Collaboration!

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Our team had the opportunity to learn about the artistic process from artist Kayla Powers and even take part in her exhibit!

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Field Trip to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts- Artist Collaboration!

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Field Trip to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts- Artist Collaboration!

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Field Trip to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts- Artist Collaboration!

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Field Trip to the Saugatuck Center for the Arts- Artist Collaboration!

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November 7, 2025, the students' artwork from our visit was included in the kickoff to the fall exhibition of Kayla Powers!

https://sc4a.org/event/flourish/

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Our driving question correlates so well with this exhibition!

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The team revisited rudimentary ideas from the previous week and used a quick NUFF test on them (new, useful, feasible, and fun). They determined that they may need to use small groups to dig a little deeper into ideas they had discarded. We finished the day feeling more confident moving forward!

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a design team made up of fourth and fift

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The newly formed smaller teams ran their ideas through the NUFF test. Is the idea NEW, USEFUL, FEASIBLE, and FUN? Aspects of each ideas were scored from 1-5. The teams will use this to help them revise their ideas.

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Teams continued to revise using the SCAMPER protocol.

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Thanks to Clare's dad for helping work through some of our revisions!

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Thanks to Aaron Penn, Clare's dad, for sharing his background in design with us and for providing feedback on our ideas!

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Students were able to receive some incredible feedback from CTC students, along with seeing the great opportunities the CTC has for them in the future!

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Students chose one word to sum up their experience. The following are their words:

persevering, bussin', connection, giving, challenging, creativity, seeing, tiring, fun, working, connection, bittersweet, proud