Q&A: Quoting Innovation

    “Don’t settle for a spark, light a fire instead.”

~Unknown

New Room by Namirenn

So I’ve mentioned in passing that my English class have been working on innovation projects for our “yearly project”. Instead of just mentioning it in passing again I thought it would be better if I actually went more in-depth on what we are doing. One of the leads of our group, Catt, whose blog you can find here, was nice enough to let me do a Q&A with her so I could give everyone a better idea of what we are doing.

Before you read the Q&A, there are a few things you should know. I would never call my English teacher, Mr. Theriault, whose blog you can find here, traditional. Not ever. Since we are an AP class, our teacher tends to cut out busy work such as worksheets, book reports, and mindless memorization activities. All of our classes communicate with each other through Google Plus communities and we are expected to be self directed learners because that is how life outside of high school will be like. This project is not only for us, as students, to learn how to work together for a common goal, but to get a taste of what life in the future will be like. Something else you should know, is that this project is based off of a mall parking lot in California called “The Camp“. Though sometimes dubbed as “The Hippie Mall”, it’s actually the first eco-friendly mall in the U.S. It’s very artsy, has great architecture, and makes for a nice little day adventure if you’re in the area.

The Camp’s parking lot

Q&A with Catt from the “Catt is a Phan of…” blog:

InkMenagerie: “Catt, first tell us a little bit about your project.”

Catt: “The project was originally thought up by Angie Ly but now it’s taken a life on its own and involves both the seniors and sophomores of Theriault’s english classes. Our project is to paint the school’s senior lot with inspirational messages (similar to the Camp’s parking lot).”

InkMenagerie: “Where did you get your inspiration? Why did you decide to do this project? What do you think it it will do for the school?”

Catt: “I’ve always really liked the Camp’s parking lot but I never really thought of bringing it to [our school] until one of Mr. Theriault’s sophomores, Angie Ly, posted on the Idea Farming Google community that it would be super cool if [our school] did the same thing with their parking lot. I messaged her and asked that if I could use that idea if she wasn’t, but we ended up working together and the projects evolved into something much bigger than the two of us. Sometimes school is just tedious and that is a horrible way to view a place where you spend most of your time at. I’m a big believer in placing special emphasis on “the little things”. The school culture is already fantastic, but I think the messages on the parking spaces would be taking it to the next level. There needs to be more focus on the arts and creativity anyway!”

InkMenagerie: “What step are you at in completing the project?”

Catt: “Right now we have our calender set up. We’re just waiting on the school’s approval before we reach out to any sponsors and start any major fundraising.”

InkMenagerie: “Besides waiting for approval, have you had any roadblocks?”

Catt: “A couple issues we’re having mostly deals with money and the actual date of painting. We have fundraising ideas and potential sponsors, but we haven’t really started the fundraising process just yet. Also, we would like to start painting over spring break and all we need is to coordinate our schedules so everyone can participate.”

InkMenagerie: “Last question: what has been the hardest part of the project so far?”

Catt: “We’re in this purgatory where we’re just waiting on the school’s approval. Once we have that then it’s full speed ahead on this project. The whole team is really anxious to start because even though painting sounds simple, there is so many things we have to set up in order to make the project a success.”

As soon as we get approval I’m sure we’ll be able to get this done no problem and I’m really optimistic about this. We have a great team of students and a strong foundation to build on. Besides I’ve always been a quote hoarder and I really think that this project, when complete, could make people’s day better. Especially when it’s one of those Tuesday mornings: the days when you woke up late, forgot your papers at home, and spilled that 8 dollar Starbucks coffee on your favorite shirt. Come on, we’ve all had one those days. Who’s to say a little pick-me-up quote of “Have a wonderful day, beautiful” or “Everything’s okay in the end. If its not okay, it’s not the end.” (Carolyn Myers) wouldn’t make someones day better. I know it would make my day better.

Special thanks to Namirenn. You can find more of her art here.