Lizzie, Ian, Ella, Raya, Natalie, Mwajuma
The Rootsters were formed in February of 2022. The problem they have been working to solve is food waste and food sustainability in our community. The kids of today will be dealing with the consequences of our wasteful and unsustainable habits unless they are empowered to make changes. The team's end users are summer camp guides and summer camp campers since they have noticed there is a great opportunity to reduce waste and educate on food waste in these camps. The team started by doing an empathy interview with Lea Rainey, owner and founder of Roots Zero Waste Market, and that was when they were first inspired to work on food waste for their design project. They then met with her again after more empathy and ideating where they presented their favorite ideas. Lea gave them helpful and constructive feedback that left them feeling a little stuck in the process but ultimately would lead The Rootsters to an idea they were all really excited about. Through lots of hard work and planning, the team has been prototyping what can be implemented at Tinker, a One Stone STEM camp, this June and are so excited to keep working on this stage. They are creating sustainable lunches and fun science-based activities to empower kids to want to learn about sustainability and food waste. By doing this, they hope that kids can take these fun memorable experiences into the future to create their own habits. The Rootsters still have some things to figure out, but are optimistic that they will have a big impact.
