Driving Question: How can we teach the concepts of branding, marketing, and project management to build a fashion brand?

Project Overview: We developed this service project to help local Panamanian fashion entrepreneurs Maale & Lorena build their streetwear brand, Sure. We did so by designing a website, graphics, and by offering business strategy through regular phone calls. We found the work to be more rewarding than initially expected. In this process, we not only discovered a passion for graphic design but also became passionate about the future of the project. Are You Sure refers to the branding we came up with in conjunction with the two young women.

During the fifth week, right before heading to WeXplore in Venao, Principal Russell Cailey asked for volunteers to help two of the girls at Hairarchy build a business website for a fashion brand. There we realized they were missing other important elements of their business so we decided to help.

As to who they are exactly, Maale and Lore are two Colombian girls that moved to Panama and began working in Hairarchy Casco. Lore is a bartender at La Bárbara, the speakeasy that operates at the back of the salon and Maale is the receptionist for the salon. They are both passionate, creative, and entrepreneurial people that love to use art to communicate with the world around them and they both love music!

It was also great to have our hard work recognized by two of the other members of their team, Ryan and Dave. One thing led to another, and Levith and I got offered a part in the brand if we continued with the project. The service project has become a passion project, and we very eager to see its development in the future.

Driving Question: Is there life on Mars?

My goals with this project have been to get people thinking about astrobiology and the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and work towards the general democratization of scientific thinking and knowledge. It is my belief that every member of society should have the tools and ability to conduct scientific investigations if they so wish, and to engage critically with new scientific discoveries and current events. Science isn’t something that should only be available to people who have a four year degree and a lab!

This is why I created a kit that can be used anywhere, by anyone, and bring the study of extraterrestrial life to their own home. I designed/adapted three experiments and activities to inspire critical thinking, scientific inquiry, and knowledge building surrounding biology, astronomy, and alien life. I also took a deeper look in my capstone paper at the reasons why there is so much misinformation about aliens in the media and amongst the general public, and along the way discovered a surprising love for science communication! The conversations I had that this kit inspired are the biggest proof that I met my goal of democratizing science; maybe if we all spent a little more time talking about life outside of earth, we’d be able to make life a little better inside of earth too!

What are you most proud of?

I’m most proud of the fact that even in the face of hardship, and people telling me that I couldn’t make this work, I chose to listen to all of the amazing people encouraging me to keep going and try another strategy. This project started out looking very differently, but I couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out. In fact, this product aligns far more with my original goals than the experiment I was planning from the start!

It was so worth it to stay true to my original intention, and put in the extra detail work to make this something I could be really proud of leaving as my TGS legacy.

What are the biggest lessons you learnt through the process of your mastery project?

I learned that the two keys to a successful project are a lot more subtle than you might think: logistics, and a whole lot of feedback. The biggest mistake I made at the outset of my Mastery was not leaving enough time for certain logistical processes to take place, meaning that eventually, I didn’t get the things I needed in time to do the experiment I had planned. Preparation is really nine-tenths of it, and is an essential part of making all the fun showy stuff a possibility!

Feedback is the other big piece of the puzzle. It’s so easy to get caught in your own little Mastery project bubble and forget that the reason you’re doing all this work is to create something other people will be able to interact with and enjoy! It’s essential to keep that factor in mind every step of the way and appreciate every pair of eyes you can get on your project whenever possible.

Driving Question: What is a meaningful community project that I can provide to meet the needs of my local community?

Project Description: In collaboration with a Belgian, a Kosovar and a Macedonian NGO, my friends and I turned an abandoned building into a socio-cultural space. We transformed a potential threat for a neighborhood and a city at large into an opportunity for personal and community development. This project aims to reinforce existing local initiatives of young people and to guide that sense of initiative into concrete results.

The building was transformed in a matter of two weeks, and although there are still quite a few basic necessities missing, we’ve been able to start projects, keep it open during warm days, and organize events. The center is located in the suburbs of Tirana, which is not ideal as it is far away from the center, however it really provides insight into the aim of this space as it directly faces the reality of a marginalized community.

Uzina is a socio-cultural space with the aim of empowering the local community to transform ideas into action. We hope to bring about a Decentralized Renaissance in art, the politics of life, and culture. The goal of Uzina is to cultivate and encourage empathy, compassion, altruism and prosocial engagement. We continuously work (and play) to promote love for people, nature, culture and learning.

What were your goals for this project? We wanted to bring to life an old industrial building and build a connection amongst different organizations/groups of people who share a common goal.

By bringing together a diverse group of young people from different countries, and by working together to build this new space, we wanted to create an educational and social dynamic. Through collaborative project management, the participants gained and shared skills, deepened their understanding of other cultures, and felt part of a bigger whole.
By practicing collective group processes, participants had the opportunity to express themselves, and to experiment with ways of decision-making and executing them in joint cooperation.

What are you most proud of? I am proud to have persisted through unimaginable challenges while managing to adapt the project to different circumstances without changing the primary purpose.

The project was initially going to take place as a community program in a socio-cultural center, but then there was a risk of the social-center being shut down. I decided to transform the program into an after-school module that would take place in a classroom setting. COVID-19 occurred, which meant the module couldn’t be implemented during that timespan. And that led to the creation of a creativity module handbook, which can be used to design and facilitate an after-school creativity module for students 10-12 years old.

Driving Question: How can we help the students at the Hagunoy East Central School internalize the importance of healthy food choices?

Project Description: For this project, I wanted to answer the question, “How can we help the students at the Hagunoy East Central School internalize the importance of healthy food choices?” My sister (fellow TGS student Gigi) and I organized a garden planting event at the Hagunoy Elementary School. We also created an illustrated story book centered around the theme of healthy eating. The second part of the book featured simple recipes to show the students how to incorporate fresh veggies and fruits into their meals.