We are so excited to have such a great team of Instructors, Staff and Youth Leaders for our summer program this year!

The Art & Design Thinking Camp is the brainchild of Corinne Takara of Okada Design. A Bay Area Artist and Arts Educator, Corinne wanted to create a program where youth could learn the design thinking process and explore and develop their own creativity using Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. She also wanted the program to be in an area where youth who normally do not have access to these kind of programs could attend at little or no cost. After joining the East San Jose based Alliance for Youth Achievement Board of Directors (at that time known as the Alum Rock Educational Foundation), she pitched her idea.

What started as a 1-week pilot program in 2013 is now a 7-week adventure in making and imagining. This project-based camp engages middle school youth in exploring design thinking processes, digital tools, and visual arts. Campers work individually and collaboratively as they experience art in a very engaging, dynamic, and innovative way. Each week has a different instructor to expose campers to varying styles, techniques and paradigms within a standardized structure. Each week also has a different theme and the camp day is divided into two parts – Focused Learning and Tinker Time. Explorations are tied to developing skills while also allowing campers to develop their artistry, encouraging them to think outside the box and follow their ideas in whatever direction they want. The journey takes campers from what they know best (themselves) and moves outward to their families, their local community, and beyond.

The camp received the 2016 KCI/Microsoft Innovation Award Grand Prize for innovative educational programming in the Bay Area and is also listed on Stanford’s d.School Design Thinking in Schools website. Principals have shared that the majority of students that have participated in our program have  demonstrated improved attendance and academic performance during the regular school year. Last years’ assessment showed that 98% of youth would attend the program again, 95% made meaningful connections with adults, and 100% were satisfied with their participation in the program.

We are very proud, not only of the success of the program, but also of the successes our campers have achieved at school and beyond. We are so looking forward to the next phase of this incredible journey.

To learn more, visit the camp website at www.ardanddesigncamp.weekbly.com