How We Can Pick An Ednovate Alum From A Crowd: College Prep With Purpose
One morning in late May of 2019, I sat down for my annual role as a panelist for our Positive Multigenerational Change (PMC) Capstones. This event could seem a little American Idol-ish as our seniors put months or years of work in front of their peers and community and are asked tough questions. For me, I try not to channel Simon Cowell and try to be more like Randy: positive and supportive.
Weeks before graduation, all seniors at our schools have to reflect over their four years and answer the question “How will I use my college degrees and careers to make a positive multigenerational change?” This usually comes in the form of a 25-page research paper and a 15 min “TED-talk” on topics ranging from the impact of social media on mental health, to how to use quantum computing to deliver medicine to remote areas of this world. When we allow our students to research problems they want to solve, their creativity and ability to think big always surprises me. This is one of my favorite days of the year.
Last year, there is one PMC Capstone that blew me away. Before Dalia came up on stage, an elaborate tech set up with animated characters looked at me on the projection screens. They looked like they were ready to talk to me. I was already hooked.
Dalia then came up on stage and discussed how she refined her talent for art. She was in love with anime and doodled a lot of it in her spare time. Then she discussed how she was also struggling with tensions at home and how it felt to not have someone to talk about it. She felt alone in her experience and used video games to escape the stress at home.
So for her senior project, she did a lot more than research. She took her love for art and created a character and a world for that character to live in. She took her love for video games and learned how to code and create her own role-playing game. She decided not to just create a game where people play mindlessly, but instead to create a game that would help others who are in similar situations have someone to talk to about problems at home.
Dalia then brought someone on the stage, sat them in front of a computer, and asked them to play the video game she created! What!?! At 18 years old, Dalia created all of the artwork, designed a virtual world, coded a role-playing game, and demoed it to all of us. I was floored.
She discussed how she was now going to attend UCSB and is entering as a video game design major. She described how she was going into the major with a revelation that as a game designer, she has a responsibility to create things that will help heal or bring more good into this world. At that moment, my educator’s heart melted.
This is the kind of education we hope every student leaves Ednovate with. We hope we can pick an Ednovate alum out of a crowd by their passion and skills to make this world a better place. We call this Creating a Positive Multigenerational Change.
In a future blog, we will discuss the extensive research and science that backs up how a deep purpose helps a student persist through challenges. In another future post, we will also discuss some pretty amazing college persistence results for our first few classes.
For now, I am going to YouTube more American Idols episodes to perfect my Randy-like comments to get ready for this year’s seniors PMC Capstone presentations.
Oliver Sicat, CEO