Startland and Burns & McDonnell graduate their inaugural cohort of Early Educator Fellows
Photography by Luke Frenzel
Startland is excited to have graduated the first cohort of The Burns & McDonnell Early Educator Fellowship this past May.
The Burns & McDonnell Early Educator Fellowship is a two-semester program focused on human-centered design thinking. Through this fellowship, educators learned how to leverage design thinking for impactful project-based learning, and how to infuse problem-solving across their curriculum. The program is hands-on, built on the “flipped classroom” model and leverages a cohort model––giving teachers peer resources from across their community.
As part of the graduation, Fellows from our second cohort pitched their mid-semester projects. Check some of them out below:
Mid-semester Pitches
Basehor Intermediate School
Nicole and Kelly used observation and surveying in their empathy work to land on the issue their school is having with unused outside space. Over the next semester, the Fellows will be working to make their North Steps a learning space that is inclusive and useable.
Carver Dual Language
Annie and Chelsea’s empathy work consisted of surveying students across all grade levels at their school. The result? A universal feeling amongst students that their school needs better upkeep. For their project, Annie and Chelsea will be working on a beautification project to address school cleanliness, trash pick-up, and upkeep of their school garden.
African Centered College Preparatory Academy
Utilizing city statistics and the advice of their students, Shineta is working on a project to help the homeless find access to food across Kansas City––24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Foreign Language Academy
Tim will be spending the next semester finding ways to incorporate virtual reality into his curriculum, and empowering students to create things beyond the limitations of the classroom.
Early Educator Fellowship
Watch as Startland, Burns & McDonnell and some of our Fellows guide you through the experience.
The Next Phase
#MakeItReal
Over the course of the next semester, our second cohort will be implementing their pitches in real-time – leading students through the human-centered design thinking process our graduated Fellows went through during their tenure.
Congratulations to our inaugural cohort of Early Educator Fellows for graduating from the program!
We’re excited to see how they continue to pursue these ideas and turn them into reality.
Is your company interested in sponsoring the next cohort of our Early Educator Fellowship?
