In late-February, when DFA National arrived at the new Wilmeth Active Learning Center located in the heart of Purdue’s campus, the room was buzzing with an excitement which continued throughout the entire weekend. Midwest Meetup is an annual, student-organized event bringing together various DFA studios in the midwest and Purdue did a great job planning it this year! Over 80 DFAers from University of Illinois, University of Cincinnati, Washington University in Saint Louis, Case Western Reserve University, Purdue, and Michigan State met in West Lafayette, IN for a memorable weekend filled with workshops and events made to empower student leaders to continue creating social impact in their communities.
DFA student leaders brainstorming during MWMU 2018 at Purdue.
In conjunction with the theme of overcoming roadblocks to success, the students were tasked with creating a visual way of showing their experience at Purdue to share on Sunday morning. After introductions on Friday evening, the main event kicked off on Saturday with breakfast and a brief workshop led by DFA National Design Fellow, Ken Hunter, and Purdue DFAers and former DFA National Interns Jesse Palma and Julia Hatfield. The workshop led to a discussion with Speaker Jeff Ginger, DFA mentor at UIUC and Director of Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab, who talked about the benefits of low fidelity prototypes and their place in the design process. Following the discussion, the students broke into groups and set out on a journey to explore various historical and iconic locations learning about Purdue’s campus and each other along the way.
DFAers exploring Purdue’s campus.
After a break for lunch, the room heard from Justin Hatfield, DFA NU alum and eCommerce Operations Senior Analyst at HumanCentric. Talking to the DFAers about the importance of failure in the design process, Justin mentioned that often times, failure can actually lead to success.
Justin Hatfield speaking to DFAers about the design process.
The day continued with a presentation from Sketch Squad’s Teddy Lu, Purdue Visiting Professor and Design Professional, who taught the room how to stop allowing traditional note-taking fail us. Teddy mentioned, “the word roadblock is really just about the failure of information and communication.” He went on to teach the group how to turn conversations and other information into visual eye-candy by using a unique style of note-taking involving sketching rather than writing.
DFAers putting this new method of note-taking into practice.
After a quick break, Jenny Bay, Associate Professor at Purdue University and Amy Wood, from the United Way of Greater Lafayette, addressed how to avoid failure with community partners. According to Jenny and Amy, “Setting proper expectations with your community partner is key. They need to know from the beginning what you expect from them, and you need to know what they expect from you.” This expert input from all the speakers helped the students understand the importance of communication and they learned valuable information they can take back to their own studios.
The day wrapped up with a panel discussion about roadblocks and successes moderated by DFA National’s Ken Hunter. Panelists included Michelle Baverman, DFA Alum and previous DFA National Design Fellow; Amanda Soskin, COO at Regen Villages and Design-Advisor in Residence at the Siebel Center for Design at UIUC; TJ Kim, Associate Professor of Industrial Design at Purdue; and Sketch Squad’s Teddy Lu, Design Professional and Purdue Visiting Professor.
Moderator Ken Hunter, and Panelists Michelle Baverman, TJ Kim, Amanda Soskin, and Teddy Lu.
After talking to the group about their own careers, the roadblocks encountered on their journeys and how those roadblocks were overcome, Ken asked the panel members, “who encouraged you during your career and what did they do to help you?” Teddy Lu immediately spoke about the importance of relationships. He says, “In your life, there will always be mentors. Sometimes they are not official mentors and they are disguised as friends, but I would not be where I am today without these people.”
Following the panel, the room broke out into their teams to work on their group project. This was my first time experiencing Midwest Meetup and I had high hopes for the teams’ outcomes, envisioning presentations filled with quirky ideas and keen observations about the events that took place. The final stories shared on Sunday morning truly exceeded my expectations. Watching silly video clips of groups rambling around the campus, learning about individual students’ takeaways, and hearing them speak with admiration and appreciation for the friends they had met put the entire weekend into a new perspective.
DFAers presenting their final project to the crowd.
After the presentations concluded and the crowd finished erupting with laughter, DFAers Jesse Palma and Julia Hatfield (PU), Lucas O’Bryan and Riya Shah (UIUC), Carrie Phillips (WashU), Katie Musial (MSU), Michael Rice and Julian Gregory (UC), and Austin Feydt (CWRU) participated in a panel discussion surrounding the challenges faced by their studios and how they’ve overcome their failures.
It’s not every day that you have the chance to collaborate with so many positive, extraordinary people, which is why the DFA Midwest Meetup tradition is so great. It’s amazing to see the passion these students bring to everything they do, and witnessing this throughout the weekend reminded me why I wanted to be a part of this organization in the first place. As the events concluded on Sunday and we began to part ways, I watched as people shared hugs and exchanged phone numbers. I realized then that if all we learned that the weekend was about creating new friendships, learning a thing or two about success and failure, and bonding as a DFAmily, then it was a huge success!
The entire group at DFA MWMU 2018.
“It has been my 5th semester as a member and it’s weird to think back to who I was before DFA. This organization has changed me for the better, and I’m grateful for what it continues to teach me. Because of DFA, I have made lifelong friends and have created countless amazing memories.” – Naomi Wang, DFA MSU ’19
Thank you to Purdue, the students, and speakers for collaborating and creating such a wonderful experience at DFA MWMU 2018. We can’t wait until next year!