The Groomed to Grow team formed the goal of helping to improve mental health of people in downtown Boise who have recently become homeless by helping them raise their self-esteem and confidence. In order to build empathy for their population, the Groomed to Grow team conducted interviews with people experiencing homelessness.
Many veterans transitioning into civilian life experience a lack of direction and discouragement about their futures, but they have a desire to rediscover their values. Returning from the service can be stressful with responsibilities of civilian life like finding a job, house hunting, going back to school, and maintaining relationships.
This Design Lab team’s end user was the Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline (ISPH). The ISPH has been a free resource for Idahoans in crisis for over six years. The problems that the team identified were the need for volunteers and the stigma around suicide and asking for help amongst youth. More specifically, ISPH came to the team with the opportunity to help with the basic foundations of a potential Youth Hotline.
The Friendly Forces team worked to help improve the mental health of children in the foster care system. Friendly Forces identified one of the main traumas for kids living in foster care can be the initial removal from their homes by police officers. From this problem, Friendly Forces created the following research question, “How might we create a less traumatic experience for kids who are forcibly removed from their home and put in foster care?”
The leadership at the Boise Police Department (BPD) realized that they needed a way to break down the “macho stigma” that forms between officers. This Design Lab group decided to help them. They first interviewed three officers – Captain Ron Winegar and Captain Brian Lee of BPD, as well as Detective Carper of the Nampa Police Department. All three officers shed insight into the deep struggle police officers face throughout the day.
The users for this group are individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Prior to this Design Lab experience, the team had zero knowledge of this community. The team discovered grocery shopping was a common issue amongst their end users and the group dove right into gathering as much information as possible about this specific need.
This Design Lab team is very passionate about helping Treasure Valley police. In particular, they want officers to have a more enjoyable and safe work environment.
Over the course of the term, they connected with law enforcement officers several times to try to understand some of the challenges police officers face day-to-day on the job. Through empathy and understanding work, they decided to focus on how the public perceives and treats officers (specifically, food service workers).
The cycle of bullying is one of the hardest cycles to break. It starts with a bully teasing, demeaning, or abusing someone, while bystanders fail to get involved. The victim often becomes a bully, and more people stand by, doing nothing to stop it. They could speak up, but they typically don’t.
According to Carol Jago of Los Angeles Times, peer feedback is more effective in changing a student’s actions than adult feedback.
I love taking walks in Boise in the spring. On a trail in the foothills or on a sidewalk in a neighborhood, I can’t help but notice everywhere nature’s relentless desire to grow. One Stone experiences this same phenomenon everyday, year round. We encourage the desire to grow in creativity, knowledge, mindset, skills, and self-expression.
Elise Malterre is a second year student at One Stone and the Managing Director of Two Birds, a student-powered creative studio that leads Design Thinking workshops for organizations and produces professional branding for local, regional, and international clientele.
I see so many people waiting to get out of high school to get into the ‘real’ world. I don't want to waste three years of my life, just waiting to graduate. Why can't I be in the ‘real’ world right now?
I came to One Stone and Two Birds to be in that real world. At 16, I am the managing director of Two Birds, responsible for running the leadership team and overseeing all aspects of the business. I lead meetings about internal business struggles like the retention of our student staff, dealing with client relations, writing proposals, drafting invoices, and sending the incredibly awkward emails when clients don't pay us on time.
Those things, especially the awkward emails, those are real world.
Despite my uncertainty at times, Two Birds has trusted me with the responsibility to run a business and has given me the support to do so. When there are deadlines and I am spending late nights working on a design or website while juggling school full time, I am reminded of the opportunity that I have as a student at One Stone, and as a member of Two Birds. When I step back, I see the gift of this experience to gain skill and confidence that is so valuable for my future.
Eleven months ago, I walked into Two Birds for the first time without ever doing design or business before. Within the week, I had designed and presented four logos and had sat in on a client meeting, and that was just the first week! The opportunity that I got, and that Two Birds gives every student, is real.
When I was a teacher, I found the month of January to be one of the most challenging times of year to teach. Maybe it’s because students have been on vacation for 2 weeks, the days are short and dark, the newness of the school year has worn off, the light at the end of the tunnel (June) is barely visible, or all of the above. Whatever the reason, it always seemed that the last thought on any student’s mind was school. I found it refreshing, although not too surprising, to learn that at One Stone, we do January differently.
1151 W. Miller St
Boise, ID 83702
United States
208-451-3825
info@onestone.org
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