We care about education.
What is Edify Projects?
Edify Projects is an initiative to create a national high school competition that gives students a voice in their education. Students break into teams to reimagine their schools' architectural spaces and curricular programming, and then present their designs at the annual student-led Edify Symposium, hosted in collaboration with NYU Steinhardt. Through fully redesigning their school, students think critically about their own education and brainstorm innovative ideas for a future K-12 education system.
Edify Projects offers a flexible framework that fosters student development across multiple skillsets, including leadership, civic engagement, design thinking, entrepreneurship, problem-solving, and collaboration.
This year the project was piloted by over 50 students from NYU & Monument Mountain High School, and will expand to more high schools in 2020.
Edify Symposium
The Edify Symposium is a student created, led, and executed conference orchestrated by NYU undergraduate students currently supported in part by NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Teaching & Learning.
The conference hosts a panel of experts and scholars from diverse backgrounds who share perspectives on education for participating students and the general public. During a gallery-walk expo session, students participating in Edify Projects present their school redesigns alongside other instutions‘ interactive exhibits and presentations.
The goal of the Edify Symposium is to expose high school and undergraduate students to new ways of thinking, and to elevate the students’ work through engagement with professionals in the field.
May 6th, 2019
NYU Eisner & Lubin Auditorium
60 Washington Square South, NY, NY 10012
Schedule
2:00 - 2:15pm - Reception & General Admission
2:15 - 2:30pm - Monument Context
2:30 - 3:00pm - Student Designs
3:00 - 4:00pm - Guest Speaker Panel / Q&A
4:00 - 6:00pm - Education Design Expo
The symposium would not be possible without the generous support of NYU Steinhardt and Terra - Sustainable Technologies. We would also like to thank Cath Milne, Mitch Joachim, Andy Romig, Peter Rajsingh, and Sean Flynn for their guidance and support.
Last Year: The Paideia Project
The Paideia Project set the groundwork for this year’s symposium by redesigning Monument Mountain Regional High School as if it were possible to build the school on an open-ended budget. We designed a striking glass-walled ring as the second floor of the school to allow students to work amidst the natural beauty of the mountains surrounding them. The student center in the atrium is another open, naturally lit space that fosters a sense of community and productivity. The daily schedule was broken into several “blocks” indicating the type of framework for each class period. For example for the Problem Project block, students select a problem in their school, town, country or in the world on which to work for the semester — they collaborate in small groups under a faculty advisor to propose or implement a solution to the identified problem.
Though we are redesigning the same school for Edify Projects ‘19, the designs this year will be far more feasible and realistic under current budgeting restrictions. We are working closely with the Superintendent and the School Board in hopes of fully realizing this year’s student designs.
