Bridging Schools and Startups

In April and May of 2020, we partnered with STEM School Highlands Ranch to create a one of a kind collaboration to engage students in design thinking and problem solving. Over the course of four weeks, students and educators from Arickaree, Gadsden High School, Lone Star School, Mohawk Trail Regional High School, SCOTLE, and Tiger Trades Academy met virtually with our product team to conduct user interviews, synthesize research, ideate on solutions, and design new features for our product.

Working directly alongside students and educators, we immediately experienced and identified several benefits. Having no formal training in education ourselves, our team gained a deep understanding of educator goals and motivations. We also collected valuable feedback from students, many of whom thought of ideas that never occurred to us.

For students, our collaboration was an opportunity to team up with peers from all over the country and the world, including Jaipur, India, the Denver suburbs, rural Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Colorado (where we witnessed the birth of a calf!). Additionally, students took part in a real life product development cycle, from user research, sketching, wireframing, and prototyping. They found value in the experience and shared their thoughts with the team afterward.