Putting the Ut Prosim in DesignUP

DesignUp is a service-based initiative that students participate in as an experiential learning opportunity. We this year have a class that is DesignUp and that class is working towards creating the branding that is used for the event and they're also working with the non-profits and the smaller organizations throughout the semester to give them more deliverables and to make sure that we're refining what is done at this event. they're learning to pitch their ideas because at the end of the day they will be kind of selling their ideas to the client and convincing them that it's a successful solution. The most fun and rewarding part about DesignUp has definitely been the engagement with the mentors and giving back to the community at large because these nonprofits have given so much to not only the university but just the Blacksburg-Christiansburg area so the fact that we as students can and come together and create something for these businesses is pretty special. I've already seen some of its impact. I went to the job interview, and for that, they talked about working on teams in a new environment, and I was able to bring DesignUp as one of those experiences. Working in a short turnaround time with new people in a new environment with a new client has given me the perspective to grow and encourage my leadership skills. As a current design professional, at Virginia Tech who graduated from Create Technologies, I feel that DesignUp is really preparing students for that professional environment. It's real-time feedback, it's being able to be critiqued and create something productive out of it. Students are exposed to a lot of different challenges that they don't necessarily get within the classroom setting very often and so they're learning to think on their toes and just work collaboratively together to make sure that they're fulfilling the request of the client.