Karen Ladenheim
Stanford undergraduate
What were you up to before you came to the d.school?
High school : ) I entered Stanford as an undergraduate in the Fall of 2009 and was lucky enough to have the chance to start getting involved with the d.school right from the start.
How did you hear about the d.school? Why did you come?
I originally heard about the d.school the summer before my freshman year of college when I was reading a book called What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 by Stanford Professor Tina Seelig. After reading about various d.school activities and classes that focused on entrepreneurship, creativity, and team-building I was hooked- it sounded like a really fun and exciting place. Fortunately, I was able to see the d.school in person when I entered Stanford that upcoming Fall and participated in an introductory seminar called “Thinking Like a Designer” taught by Stanford Product Design Professor Bill Burnett.
I loved the Thinking Like a Designer class because its dynamic format helped me develop a number of important life skills, ranging from communication and creativity to organization and teamwork. That said, I wish I had this educational experience earlier on. Since childhood, I have spent my summers at a variety of residential summer camps, and have much experience in this field. In turn, I was inspired to share the wonderful experience I had in “Thinking Like a Designer” with other high school students by designing my own program: Zap! Camp. After talking the idea over Professor Burnett, he put me in touch with Rich Crandall, the director of the d.school’s K-12 program around October of 2009.
Rich served as my mentor when planning Zap! Camp and helped me apply for and recieve a HAAS Public Service Fellowship to create and run Zap! in partnership with the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (d.school) during the summer of 2010.
What did you experience when you got here? Why was it meaningful to you?
I absolutely love the new d.school building- it is filled with so many fun, colorful spaces and creative pieces of furniture. In combination with the over-flowing proto-typing bins, I feel like these mobile and transformable spaces are really conducive towards working creatively and braintstorming. In addition, the d.school faculty adds to its vibrant, open, and supportive atmosphere. When planning Zap! Camp, I met with a number of d.school faculty to ask for advice and suggestions. They were extremely warm, enthusiastic, and supportive of my project and several of them even volunteered to run workshops with the campers, which was very generous and fun for both myself and the campers. I also especially appreciate all the help Rich Crandall gave me- whenever I had questions about the logistics or curriculum for Zap!, Rich was a great help.
Through hands-on, project-based, and team-oriented activities, Zap! Camp was a month-long program exposed 17 local high school students to the power of creative, real life problem-solving. Beginning exercises were geared towards familiarizing participants with the design philosophy and process of the d.school. Later, in-depth case studies, guest speakers, and field-trips also taught participants about creative problem-solving’s diverse and practical applications. Finally, Zap! Camp’s community-based project empowered participants to use creative-thinking to address a local issue.
major goal of Zap! was to empower campers by helping them start a meaningful project in their communities, and I am very proud about how this component of camp turned out as well. We spent several hours on these community-based projects every week, and some of the participants enjoyed it so much that they are continuing with their projects. One notable example is Helping Other People Excel (H.O.P.E.). This passionate group of six campers wanted to help middle school students transition to high school. To achieve this, they partnered up with the vice principal of a local middle school, Crittenden, and are working on setting up a buddy and tutoring program there this school year. Another Zap! Camp group, Youth Open to Understanding (Y.O.U.), has planned out a 3-day seminar at the d.school to help broaden Bay Area teenagers’ perspectives by making them more aware of the cultures, lifestyles, and socioeconomic backgrounds of their peers.
What are you doing now? How do you use what you learned at the d.school?
I am currently studying abroad in Santiago, Chile through Stanford’s Bing Overseas Study Program. Other cultures have always fascinated me, and I am absolutely enjoying the experience- whether practicing Spanish with my host family at dinner, going on a day excursion, or learning to cook Chilean dishes, everyday brings something new.
I came up in early January and will be staying here through the summer to participate in an internship with a sustainable indigenous textile start-up company called Voz. Since Voz is in its early stages, the brainstorming rules for “deferring judgement, quantity over quality, and piggy-backing ideas” have definitely come in handy. I also find myself embodying d.school values for “fail early and fail often” and going through the creative problem-solving steps “empathy, research, brainstorm, prototype, share, test, and reflect” on a daily basis with a real, meaningful project, which is really exciting.
