Reflections on IP’s First-Ever Summer Design Camp

IP staff members Alondra Maciel, Barbie Penn, and Essence Spencer share their experiences and lessons learned from our inaugural Summer Design Camp, a first-of-its-kind program where we reached 27 Black and Brown youth with five weeks of intensive design education featuring project-based learning. 

By Inneract Project

After more than three years of online programming, the team at Inneract Project decided it was time to return to meeting in person. As a nonprofit organization with the mission of empowering the next generation of Black, Latinx, and underrepresented designers of color, we believed that in-person programs allowed us to give our students closer attention and ensure that they felt safe. 

At the same time, we wanted to expand by offering a program over consecutive days and weeks, allowing students to really grow into their creativity and skills.

Enter Summer Design Camp (SDC): a monthlong pilot program hosted at Oakland’s Fremont High School, serving 27 middle and high school students and involving all IP staff and many of our partners.

Engaging students in-person for the first time in years

“Summer Design Camp was our first in-person, extended-day event,” explained Barbie Penn, senior program manager at IP. “This program included five weeks of instruction for students. Each week was a different focus and a different project. It was Monday through Friday for the whole month of July, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. It was an amazing experience; I would say it's the deepest engagement and the longest engagement we've had for programming prior to Covid.”

As a longtime member of the IP community, Barbie was well acquainted with our in-person programming. But for program coordinators Essence Spencer and Alondra Maciel, who had joined the team in 2022, it was a new experience, leading them to engage with students and themselves differently.

“I have a background in program planning and management. So this shift was fun for me,” said Essence, who led the student recruitment process. “It taught me a lot about myself, and also about utilizing the strength of the community again….So a lot of times they're the ones that really help the transition be super smooth, because we all wanted to create the same thing.”

Reflecting on the difference in student engagement versus prior programs, she added, “I was doing both programs with my partners and Summer Design Camp, so I wasn't there as often as I’d like, but I still received positive engagement from the students, just because a lot of the students I had met prior so they knew my name. They wanted to have conversations with me. They felt comfortable to ask questions. They felt like they were safe, which was my priority, and I was glad that they felt [that way].”

Alondra found the student engagement—and her own— to be at a higher level. “I think the privilege of me being on campus with the students I was able to identify like, ‘Hey, maybe this student needs more support,’ or just be able to say, ‘Hey, that looks great, what you're doing, can you tell me more?’ And they love that you're interested in the work and that you're checking in... The impact of having in person, I really can't compare to some of it, just because it's a whole different thing: the emotion, intelligence, and the interpersonal skills that you have to have so that the students feel supported is just unmatched.”

Having students feel safe and supported is no small feat for any youth program, but Summer Design Camp had the additional challenge of consisting of students who were almost all new to Inneract Project—and also new to design.

Students were learning and building their portfolios from day one. “Each week was a different focus and a different project,” said Barbie. “So the students went through the basic foundations of design, and then they went into AI. They also went into things like creating posters and assets for their favorite music artists. We also worked with some corporate sponsors this year, like Apple, Meta, Oakland Museum of California, and Dolby. Those were the locations for our four field trips.”

Meeting students’ needs beyond design

With so much intensive education, and students who were mostly new to IP, how did Barbie, Alondra, Essence, and the rest of the team cultivate a safe environment where students were able to thrive?

The structure of routine was part of it. 

“Every day, we all met inside the ‘homie room,’ which is essentially a homeroom, where all of the snacks were provided,” said Essence. “There were bean bags, blankets. There was an activity by [summer staff member] Sarah, who just kind of helped ground them and open them up and just say, ‘Hey, you're here at the summer camp. Let's set our intentions for the day.’ After that, they went into their classes and worked on their curriculums, their projects….and every day ended in the homie room where we just kind of came back, concluded the day, and said, ‘Wow, that was great.’ And then people went home.”

Another even more important part: IP met students’ basic needs, so they could then thrive.

“We provided a healthy, free, and hot lunch every day,” Barbie recalled. “So that's one thing that the students and the families didn't have to worry about. We also had unlimited snacks. In the homie room, there was a snack bar with everything that you could imagine, from cookies to dried fruit to seaweed to pretzels and chips, and there was no limit. After school, we had fresh fruit as well.”

“Being in person, we could also say, ‘Hey, I notice you walk; you need a bus pass?’” Alondra added. “Those things we couldn't identify virtually.”

“I taught a student how to tie their shoes,” said Essence. “I saw that his shoes were untied….And then I saw him struggling. I said, ‘Oh, would you like to learn a trick?’ I went through the process with him, and I said, ‘Follow up with me at the end of the day to let me know how it worked out for you.’ And they stayed tied all day. And it was just that little quirky moment where I was, like, ‘I did something today that really made a difference.’”

At the end of Summer Design Camp, every student who completed the program had a portfolio’s worth of work—useful for future design and creative endeavors—and received a $350 stipend, which they could use to further meet their respective needs and wants.

“I always go back to the fact that we were able to supply them with whatever they needed,” Barbie said. “The students just had to show up and be open and willing to participate. But in terms of supplies and snacks and food, they didn't have to worry about any of that.”

“When our needs are being met, then we can thrive, and then we also can stretch and think about learning new things. And it isn't until our needs are met that we can do that,” Barbie added. “So I feel very grateful for the resources that we have at IP.”

Inneract Project plans to offer two sessions of Summer Design Camp in 2025, serving 90 students in two locations with intensive design learning focused on building creative skills and real-world projects. Support their mission to reach Black, Latinx, and underrepresented youth of color with a donation to their end-of-year fundraising campaign here.

And find out more about Summer Design Camp, including Pre-Camps to be scheduled in spring 2025, at https://www.inneractproject.org/summerdesigncamp!