Pizza with the Brightmoor Neighborhood!

This past Friday we were able to visit the Brightmoor neighborhood and make some 'smiley face' pizzas using the oven from last semester (which has now unfortunately rusted - but actually works MUCH better!) It was a wonderful afternoon reconnecting with the community and seeing all the children get super excited about playing with the dough - who knew it would be so hard trying to get children to stop with essentially playdough even if it's meant for pizza! For now the pizza oven will be staying in the neighborhood for the summer for future cleanup days - all are encouraged to come help clean or make pizza! Below are a series of pictures, enjoy!

Brightmoor figures prominently in modelDmedia this week--check it out, and also, take a look at this resource--for material, for connections:

Denailed

College Collision; Project Proposal

Project Proposal: Disentangling the complex web of perceptions and apprehensions about College amongst the DCS students, approaching the situation as a design challenge we propose Hands-On ‘Engage with New Skills’ workshops at the school that hope to bring energy, enthusiasm, curiosity and newfound interests in skills that are generally pursued at college.

Assimilating their interests in athletics, art and design to start off this series of workshops is the ‘Design Your Sneaker’ Workshop initiated by our group that attempts at introducing the DCS students to ‘footwear design’ with the incentive of sending all their final designs for the Nike 2012 Shoe Design Competition.

We hope by setting an example with this workshop we can promote the concept to other U.M departments and help create a succession of collaborative workshops between Michigan and DCS immensely rewarding learning experiences for everyone.

(Daniel, Jennifer, Mithula, Neil, Zack)

Some Great Posters & Problem Statements

Cardboard Furniture Photos

Great work last week on cardboard projects with the 9th graders - I posted photos at the link below. some great ones!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brightmoorprojects/sets/72157627951761269/

Food and After-School Engagement

Our group discussed several issues surrounding food--specifically nutrition, school lunches, lack of knowledge about food preparation, and access to food. We also discussed how many of the students at Detroit Community School said they do not have anything to do after school or if they do, they have to travel to the suburbs for fun things to do. We wanted to find a way in which students could be educated and trained in nutrition and food preparation while also socializing with one another outside of class. This led to the idea of an after-school pizza cafe where some students could work and others could eat and socialize with one another. Most students are hungry after school and their parents are working till at least 5 p.m. This pizza cafe, with fresh pizzas made with local ingredients, would provide a fun, healthy, and creative way for students to eat and be involved in an after-school activity.

-Alana Hoey