This episode features a special live recording from the ATLIS Annual Conference with Rich Lehrer and the student members of the award-winning Dawson Design Company. Listen in as these seventh and eighth graders discuss how they are using technology to learn about design, fabrication, entrepreneurship, and philanthropy for real-world clients.

• The Alexander Dawson School: https://www.adsrm.org/
• Tyler Robinson Foundation: https://www.trf.org/
• Georgia Tech: https://www.gatech.edu/
• Montclair Kimberley Academy: https://www.mka.org/
• St. Christopher's School: https://www.stchristophers.com/

Ed, welcome to Talking technology with Atlas,

the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for

technology leaders all through a unique Independent School lens.

We'll hear stories from technology directors and other

special guests from the Independent School community,

and provide you with focused learning and deep dive topics.

And now please welcome your host, Kristina llewellen,

hello everyone, and welcome back to

talking technology with Atlas. I'm Kristina llewellen, the

president and CEO of the Association of technology

leaders in independent schools,

and I'm Bill Stites, the Director of

Technology at Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New

Jersey, and I'm

Hiram Cuevas, the Director of Information Systems

and Academic Technology at St Christopher school in Richmond,

Virginia. All

right, guys. So here we are once again, and

we are recording a little intro to go with one of our very

special episodes, featuring a really incredible and memorable

podcast that we recorded live on stage in Atlanta. And I know,

Bill, you weren't with us because you had a lot of other

presenting duties at the Atlas conference. So Hiram and I were

able to pop on the general stage and do this interview. You were

not with us. So just to make sure that you're not feeling

left out, I decided to come in and ask you guys a question.

Thinking back to your time at the 10th Anniversary Celebration

in Atlanta, is there anything that you can think of that you

would any kind of conference traditions, or anything you

experienced in Atlas this year that should be a keeper,

anything that we should be sure to revisit as we plan for next

year's conference?

I was not involved with this. So to say it should

be kept is purely on what I have heard, but what I would say is

the AOI reunion. I have heard so much from Aoi participants about

the way in which they've remained connected with their

cohorts, the way in which they look forward to getting back

together, the fact that they would put together presentations

at the conference together, and that they would go out together.

They would do things together. It really struck me that the way

in which that group has come together and stayed together is

something that if you're going to do those types of like last

day events or, you know, whatever it is around the Al to

keep those things going, because I think that as we look to the

future, whether it's future board members at Atlas, these

are the future tech leaders that are there, they're going to be

developing those connections, those long standing connections,

that are going to be able to support them in the later parts

of their career that I just think we need to keep an eye on

and maintain and having nothing to do with it. You know, it's

something that I think just needs to stick around and needs

to make sure that it doesn't go away. But on a personal note, I

think whatever conference venue we have, we need to always make

sure that we've got a good evening gathering spot that may

serve libations, that is easily accessible and has enough room

for everyone to come back to, I think, is always helpful. Is

always good, because I think after a long day of doing what

we're doing, we still find time to come together in those later

hours and keep the work going into the later hours.

Yeah, we can never get you guys out of the

room. I mean, like, no. Every time we have a pre con meeting

with the hotel, we warn them, most people will, like, dip out

of the reception before it's even done. Nope. Not our people.

You guys stay until we kick you out. There is nobody leaving you

like hanging out with each other 100%

and I would say, for me, the I think this was the

first introduction of students to the Atlas conference, and I

would love to see students continue to be present at the

Atlas conference, because they truly are telling us what the

future holds, because they are at the forefront. I've learned

so much, and this is actually a bit of a prelude to this podcast

that we are introducing to you all. This group of students is

unreal. They are truly unreal in terms of what they're able to

share with us. Yeah,

that is a great intro and setup for this

conversation that our listeners are about to hear, because we

had seventh and eighth graders all stacked up in chairs on the

general main stage from the Alexander Dawson school. And

these kids represented what they call the Dawson design company.

And so this program won the Aspire visionary Excellence

Award this year, which is a new awards program that we do at

Atlas. And it was very clear to me and Hiram why these kids were

recognized. So they are led by rich layer, which he's the

Director of Academic Innovation and Design at the. Alexander

Dawson school, and the idea of this program is that it blends

digital design, fabrication, entrepreneurship and also

philanthropy, which really empowers these kids to create

like market ready products, while also raising funds for

things that need to happen in their communities. So since this

program launched in the summer, August of 23 the students in

this program have raised more than $10,000 for various

organizations. And so the idea is that they run the Dawson

design company like a business, and they think about things like

technology for good, and they're trying to help with marketing.

So the students kind of are empowered to not only learn

about business fundamentals, technology fundamentals, and

they manufacture things, but then they sort of take these

design challenges and solve for them, and they go to the market

with the solutions, and hopefully whatever they possibly

raise is dedicated to philanthropic causes for real

world clients. So it was such an honor to speak with them. And

once again, we're blown away by how the kids on stage, seventh

and eighth graders, held the mic right like you'll hear from Rich

a little bit as their academic leader and supervisor, their

teacher, but I think that for the most part, he just let the

kids talk about the program and why they were recognized. And so

Hiram and I, for me anyway, it was one of the highlights of the

conference, and Hiram and I had such a really robust and

engaging conversation with a gaggle of middle schoolers right

up your alley, huh?

Absolutely. And perhaps the most interesting

aspect about this course, it's not a one and done course, yeah,

you're right. We've got several of those students actually took

the course multiple times, and as a result, their leadership

roles within the course increased, and so they truly

were getting that firsthand experience of what it was like

to run a business and what it was like to be at the forefront

of that organization. And so you all are in for a real treat.

Yeah, absolutely, we're gonna let this

conversation unfold. But I am so grateful that we recorded it and

that we captured it so that we can share it with an audience

far beyond those who were with us in Atlanta. So I hope you

guys all enjoy. We are joining our podcast listeners live from

the stage in Atlanta, Georgia at our 10th Anniversary annual

conference. And I'm really excited, because I don't think

we have ever had this many guests on our podcast at one

time before.

No, we haven't. And then the energy surrounding

middle school students is awesome. I love Middle School.

Taught middle school for 15 years. Love it.

I'm gonna ask you guys to just give me

your first name and what grade you're in, but then I'm gonna

also see if anyone can guess what Hiram taught when he was a

middle school teacher. That's gonna be the guest at the end of

the podcast. Okay, all right, so we'll start down here at the

end. Tell me your name and what grade are you

in. My name is Gracie, and I'm in eighth grade. Hi,

Gracie.

My name is Boston, and I'm seventh grade. My

name is Jacob, and I'm also in seventh

grade. My name's Ed and I'm in eighth grade. My

name is gunner, and I'm in eighth grade.

My name is Elliot and I'm also in eighth grade.

My name is Max and I'm in eighth grade. Hi, I'm

Walker eighth grade. Awesome.

Thank you guys for joining us, and let's

take a moment rich. Let's have you also introduce yourself.

Where are you from and why in the world are you here on the

stage with all these brilliant children?

Great thank you. Kristina, so my name is Rich

Lehr. I am the Director of Academic Innovation and Design

at the Alexander Dawson school in Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm

originally from Saskatchewan, Canada, and we are here on the

stage with you because we had the great fortune of winning an

atlas Aspire award for visionary excellence.

You sure did. Now this is a brand new

program that Atlas introduced this year, and the idea was that

we've had the pillar awards for some time. We have programmatic

accomplishments that we celebrate at Atlas, such as

folks graduating from the Atlas Leadership Institute or

obtaining their technology leader in independent school

certification. But we hadn't really come up with a plan to

recognize cool programs, innovative things that are

happening in our space. So not only are you the winner of the

Aspire award for visionary excellence, but also you're the

inaugural winner of it, we're really excited. The reason that

you're here is because the Dawson design company, which is

a seventh and eighth grade design technology elective at

the Alexander Dawson school, was basically recognized for its

groundbreaking approach to technology and how you integrate

that with your education at your school. So tell everybody just a

little bit about the program and where did it come from?

So all of us are part of a class called Dawson design

company, and this is a class that focuses on

entrepreneurship, innovation, design, giving back to the

community.

I love it. And what are some of the

projects that you. Guys have worked on anybody can answer.

You guys can kind of just grab the

mic. So a lot of time we work on, like, themed designs

for certain seasons or events. So for example, we had a fall

festival, which is basically just a carnival that our school

puts on, and we had a booth there. So we spent a couple

months designing, like fall and Halloween themed designs. It was

really

cool, awesome. We also had a pet project where we made

personalized pet project products for students at the

school.

That's really cool.

We also do, like what they say, personalized projects.

Sometimes we'll get orders from parents and different

organizations like the Tyler Robinson foundation where they

need stickers or key chains made. We do that a lot, so

it sounds rich like this program is pretty

responsive to needs within your school community. Is that why it

was designed? Where did this come from?

So this is actually an extension of some of the

other classes that we have at Dawson that are really looking

for ways to have students engage in technology and technology

education through super authentic experiences, as well

as learning that feels meaningful and purposeful to

them. And so essentially, we've been doing this sort of work for

a couple of years at Dawson. And previous to my arrival at

Dawson, we've really been looking at ways that kids can

just have very authentic experiences with technology. I

had another class called Tech for Good, and some students were

just making some things that looked really nice, some laser

cut items. And all of a sudden people were coming into our

classroom and saying, Oh, I would pay money for that. And I

think that's sort of the game changer, is all of a sudden kids

have access to technology that allows them to do work on par

with adults or professionals. And after we heard that, enough

people would say, I would I would like to buy that, then we

realized, Oh, we could actually create a class around the idea

of kids running the class essentially like a little

business, and so that's why we called it the Dawson design

company. We're not an incorporated business by any

stretch of the imagination, but we run our class like a

business. The kids find markets for the things that we can make.

They advertise it. Sometimes they just create inventory to

sell, but other times they take on customized orders. And then a

key part of this is that at the beginning of the semester,

students identify an organization that would benefit

from our support, our financial support, and then once we've

decided on that organization, all profits go to the

organization that

select. So you're giving back to community

too. That's pretty cool. So what are some of the things that you

guys have learned? It sounds like when you talk about, like,

basically running a little business, it's not just about

making something, it's also about selling it and managing

supplies and inventory and all that fun stuff too, right? So

what are some of the cooler things that you've learned that

you didn't necessarily expect to learn?

So one of the things that I did not expect to learn.

But I definitely learned is, like you said earlier,

marketing, like marketing products, and figuring out

different events too, like actually sell the products, was

a lot more challenging than it might sound, especially when

this is our second year running the class. So it's getting a

little dry, selling the same products over and over again, so

we have to broaden our horizons and find new ideas. But

definitely, the marketing side is something I find really

interesting, and did not expect to be as challenging as it is.

Sounds

like we have a budding

I know marketing, that's right. I

think that we also learn a lot about like,

commitments and everything, because, I mean, we had a sale a

couple months ago for to raise money for the flyers in

California, and that was, like, on two weeks notice. So we had

to pump out a ton of, like, special designs for that within

two weeks. So, like, just actually, like making that not

necessarily sacrifice, but putting in the extra work, like,

maybe come in late and work like I was gluing an hour before the

event. Like, so, just so, just like honoring that commitment

and really like being passionate about what you're doing, is

something that I've learned, yeah,

sometimes there's some time pressures on that. That's cool.

Anybody else want to tell me a little bit about what you

learned?

Anybody here budding CFO,

I learned, like before I took Dawson design company, I

definitely didn't know how to design or print anything. But

when I got there, they taught me about how to design stickers and

heat presses to put on T shirts and laser cuts all like that. So

it was just definitely a great experience, and I definitely

didn't expect to learn any of that.

That's awesome. How about Walker?

I learned something that I didn't really know was a very

big issue until I was in the class during my first sale

opportunity, the Fall Festival. I was a little nervous about

talking to people walking by and trying to actually sell things,

yeah, but Mr. Lair came up to me, and he said, Walker, I want

you to stand here all day and talk to people. So I was forced

to get out of my comfort zone, and the Dawson design company

has really helped me to do that. And even earlier, while giving

our presentation. I was nervous to get on to the stage and talk

about our slide show, but I did it, and I think it's really

worth it.

That's great. Even being up here on

this stage has got to be a little intimidating. But you

know what, the way that I think about it, whenever I present, or

even have to, like yesterday, sing in front of a huge crowd of

people, is I always just kind of think they want me to do well.

They don't want me to fall on my face or or mess up, right? So

same, like when you give a presentation or when you're

trying to sell something, they want you to do well. So even if

it's a stranger, that's kind of what I think about. That's

really cool. So this is an elective class for you guys,

right? Like, you could be doing any other number of things, and

what I'm sure is an incredible school. So can you guys tell me

why you decided to do this class? Well,

for me, it was kind of a complicated story, but the end

of it is I knew how to design for it because I'd taken classes

with Mr. Le for and learned how to design. And I really like

that, and I've always had this spark for entrepreneurship, so

put the two together, and Dawson design company was the perfect

class for me. Sounds like it. I didn't initially join it in the

beginning, but because I decided to go for coding class instead,

since I also have an affinity for coding. But Mr. Laird told

me that there was a spot that opened up and I took the

opportunity and switched electives.

Love it. Good for you.

For me, when we were first putting in our elective

form for signing up for classes, I just learned that Dawson had a

design lab. So it seemed like Dawson design committee was an

interesting class, so I decided to choose it along with where

it's it's, which is another class at Dawson.

One of the reasons I wanted to join the Dawson design

company is because I want to be an entrepreneur when I'm older,

and so it seemed mostly like an entrepreneurship class, but also

getting the teamwork skills to be able to work with others was

really helpful. Great point.

Yeah, kind of similar to Boston. I mean, I just like,

I've always been kind of fascinated by businesses and

entrepreneurship and like, the hardships, but also the

triumphs, so I thought that'd be cool to experience and also just

grow my skills from like, because I've always done, like,

personal designs, but to actually work on client based

learning and everything like that was fun. And also just a

little more of a random comment. But I think that because it's an

elective class, and because everybody here like chooses to

do it, it makes everybody so much more like into it, and it

really makes it like a special environment. It's great

point. I joined the Dawson design company because,

well, I initially didn't join it at the start. And my next

semester, I was thinking of electives to choose, and I just

didn't know which ones to pick. And I remembered that I've heard

great feedback from that class, and I heard that'd be pretty

fun, so I just wanted to try it out, and it ended up being a

great elective for me.

Awesome. Kristina was just gonna mention something. So

we purposefully allow students to take the class multiple

times. As you mentioned, it's a semester long class, and it's

offered to seventh and eighth graders. So conceivably,

students could take this four times. And I believe Ed has

taken the class four times, others three times. In fact,

everybody on the stage has taken the class at least twice. We

have a whole group of students who have only taken it once, but

we decided to use these students who have taken it multiple times

as representatives. We're very intentional with students who

take it the first time. We call them our novice designers, and

so they're just learning the basics of digital design and

fabrication. But by time the student is taking it for a

second time, we call them our advanced designers, and they

then take on a leadership role in the Dawson design company, so

they may be leading certain projects. So as a project lead,

they learn to become independent users of the fabrication

technology. So these guys can all run the laser cutters by

themselves and 3d printers and our vinyl cutters. And that's a

really critical part of this, that we're not just trying to

teach tech skills and entrepreneurship skills, but

we're also trying to engender leadership skills in there as

well. So it's kind of a multi headed class. So

have any of you started to create your own side

hustles? Yet they're

not going to tell you. They haven't gotten

the paperwork to protect it.

I have my own business, kind of good. I am a

photographer, and I have my own website. I try, have not

succeeded very much yet to sell my photos, and I feel like this

class has really helped somehow. It's kind

of like laying the groundwork, right?

Yeah, 100% so now you guys came out here because you are

recognized with the Aspire award. It was really cool if

your teacher decide to bring all of you out, rather than just

come out here by himself and grab the award and bring it back

to you. So you've traveled all the way from Las Vegas. We are

now in Atlanta, and so tell me about some of the things that

you've done while you've been here. So you certainly you came

up on the stage and you got recognized for your award, for

your program. You also did a presentation here. Here at the

conference. How'd that go? Other than Walker, was a little

nervous. Anybody else nervous to present in front of a bunch of

adults? Gracie, how did the presentation go?

Well, I was a bit nervous about it, especially

when I heard, like, couple months ago, like, Oh, you're

gonna be presenting to people. I'm like, Oh God,

a bunch of technology leaders who want to

get good ideas for their schools. Because

I only been here two times, I wasn't expecting to,

like, win an award. It was, it was also during lunch, so it was

really unexpected at the time, but as soon as I got on stage, I

was a little bit more comfortable speaking.

Awesome. There you go. So what else did

you guys do while you were here? We

went to two schools while we were here. We went to

Mount Vernon and Georgia Tech, and then we saw their design

spaces.

Did you get any good ideas? What would you

wave a magic wand and get from those schools?

I was really impressed, especially by Georgia Tech's

design space, because it was just such a big scale up from

what we were doing, because it was like a professional Well,

our space is pretty good, but it's not like the machinery that

they had there was so high tech, so powerful. And it was really

cool to see what a higher version of our space could look

like. So

you've got to, you've got to be looking forward

to that next level. It was, it

was awesome. It was really cool, I mean, and we had

a great tour guide, dr, forest. Dr forest was great. He gave us

a tour. He walked, walk us in there. We saw, we not only saw

their innovation space, which, like Max said, 30 printers is a

cutters, cutters with, like hydro, like very powerful water,

like that, yeah. But we also saw, like, the woodworking shop,

and they had another, like lab where you I think they do like a

Atlantic Coast competition, which is really cool to see.

It's really cool. I think one of the biggest things to mention at

Georgia Tech is that their entire design innovation lab is

completely student run. There are a couple staff people in

there, I think. But for the most part, it's just in and out

students all day. It's open to everyone, and the fact that

students put in their own time and effort to keep it running is

really impressive.

I think that you may have created some East

Coast aspiring students. You're gonna have mad parents when you

get back rich like, all these kids are gonna be like, I'm

going to Georgia

I'm going to Georgia

Tech. I actually want to go to Georgia Tech. Now,

after I actually mentioned it was interesting to go there,

because it really drove home something that probably we don't

share enough with these guys, but so there are so many

professions and careers that are now depending on digital design

and then having the files or the design sent to have something

done with it. And that's everything from dentistry,

orthodontics, construction, engineering, architecture. And

even though we're focused on the work that we do, which is

creating items to sell, we're really trying to just get them

to be comfortable with that idea of using technology to have

impact. And going to Georgia Tech yesterday was just very eye

opening in terms of just what it's possible for young people

to do now. And I'm really excited just to think about the

careers that these students might take where they're doing

things with computers and possibly fabrication that we're

not even dreaming of now. I sort of, I'm trying to look 10 or 15

years down the road and think of how they might use digital

design in ways that are just changing the landscape of

certain professions. Was

there a favorite tool at Georgia Tech that that

you all like that wish you had at your own school?

For me, don't think we could have it at our school.

Unfortunately, as Dr forest mentioned, it was like a

$200,000 machine, but they had a really powerful hydro drill.

It's like a laser cutter, but with water, and it can cut

through metal. So that was really, really cool to see. But

I think Mr. Lair mentioned that there's smaller versions, more

in our price range. I mean, that would be awesome to have just to

be like, cut through metal.

Inspiring. I think so too. They are

inspiring. I bet you guys could get a funder. I'm just saying I

think you could get some funding. You could just put

together your proposal and see who, who's going to be willing

to get you a water powered cutting thing. You already have

a photographer. That's right. That's right. Shark Tank. Shark

Tank to support you exactly. That's awesome. So my question

for you, whenever you're in entrepreneurship, Jacob, you hit

on this because there are hardships, right? So businesses

are hard. Working as a team can be hard. You guys probably saw

this in your work at your own school, when you had challenges

and deadlines. But even now, here you are out traveling to

the other side of the country and going on trips and doing

presentations, there's always moments where it gets a little

bit tense, or there's the team dynamic. Can you know, you get

sick of each other, you're tired, you're jet lagged, you're

hungry. So has this program taught you about being a Team,

even when it's kind of hard,

yeah, for me, generally, I prefer working

independently than working with groups. But one thing this class

has really taught me is that sometimes you need to let go and

just trust that other people will do the work the way it's

supposed to. And I've been here since the beginning of this

class's founding, and I know that we've gone through some

challenges, but over time, we've learned from those mistakes, and

we've adapted over time so we know now what to do and what not

to do. I love it. It's

great experience. A lot of wisdom there.

I was just wondering, could anybody speak about the

image of a rowing team that we often use to discuss our

company? Oh, they all just side.

All right, yeah, this rowing team, that's

probably a feature for the first two months of the opening

circle. Okay, help me understand what's up with the rowing team.

So there's, like, it's an

image of people rowing, but it has more value, yeah,

context value than it does, like, looking, yeah, but

basically, it kind of represents how if, like, you all need to

work together to be successful. Like, if one person is not

rowing or, like, rowing backwards is an analogy we use a

lot, then it's not gonna function as well, and then it

might not win the race. So

100% absolutely cool.

Just because also the money, like the things that we

do in this class, like the money that we raise, it's not just

like we're getting a grade for the class, and then it's the end

of that. Like, the products that we make, the money that we get

from the products that we make, is actually going to someone,

like, actually benefits people that really need it. And if

someone is throwing the rowing team off, then it's not going to

be as productive or as successful as it could be. And

when there's like, something so important, as, in this case,

Tyler Robinson foundation on the line, like we can't really

afford that to happen. Yeah, you're

working for something greater. Yeah,

absolutely. Okay, cool. So here's what I would love to do.

This has been so fun for me to chat with you guys. So what I'd

love to know is, at this point, and you do not need to know for

sure, but in terms of, you're in seventh and eighth grade, so I'm

curious, what do you think your future life? I know everybody

always asks you, What do you want to do when you grow up? I

would rather ask you, what is your interest? What do you think

that when you are out in the world, what do you think your

fingerprint might be? It can be a job, but it doesn't have to

be. What do you think you'll be interested in when you are no

longer a middle or high school student.

I'm not really a tech person. I really want to get

into, like art, visual arts, that's what I've been into and

only good at since elementary.

So you're finding new ways to sort of

leverage that. Yeah,

so I joined design because I wanted to see like,

instead of just drawing on paper, I want to create actual,

like, physical stuff. But after being in this class, I'm like,

you could be an architect.

It's awesome.

I don't know for sure what I want to do when I'm

older, but I do know that future, it's really clear that a

lot of it's going to involve technological stuff, like AI and

just more digital work. So I'm assuming I know that this class

is really helpful for my future, and I'm going to continue in

future grades doing design stuff. So I'm assuming my job

will be something related to AI or tech in some way,

and hopefully your artistic

photography skills too. Hopefully awesome.

Something I want to do when I'm older is probably robotics

and artificial intelligence. So that's one of the main reasons I

joined the Dawson design company, also learning about all

this stuff, and then being able to sit at the conference and

hearing everybody that was up here talk about artificial

intelligence was really, really interesting.

Yeah, we had some really smart people. Did

you get a chance to meet Dr fahrenholt? No, but it was, it

was, I can probably make it happen if he's not on a plane

yet. I'll introduce you after this. She got she got people. I

got people

for me. I really don't know what I want to do when I

grow up, because the world is such a changing landscape. What

I want to do now is probably not going to be the same thing as

what I want to do when I'm a senior in high school, or even

when I'm a senior in college, something that we really want to

do in this class is inspire other schools to take this

program and implement it in their schools. So start your own

design company and this high school I'm going to because

Dawson is only a preschool through eighth grade. Yeah, we

have to go other places for high school, and my high school

doesn't have a design lab like this. It has a really amazing

wood shop, but the things I like to do are laser cutting and 3d

printing. So I was thinking if I could bring this concept over to

that school and maybe in some. Our other schools. To

take surprise, I feel like, Here she

comes, but we have a new class situation we need to get

handled. I would not put it past yet.

For me, I would also do, like, something related to

do with robotics and then, like, engineering, yeah, probably the

designing aspect of it, too. Love

it. There was something that I think it's

really important to mention that we haven't really talked about,

is, although we've talked a lot about the design skills and the

entrepreneurship skills and the making money and things like

that, that really pales in comparison to some of the other

things that we're really stressing and one of which is

just helping the kids develop empathy. And so originally, we

selected organizations just on the principle of being able to

make donations to them to help the organizations. And I think

Max mentioned it, we have a partner called the Tyler

Robinson Foundation. They were started by the Imagine Dragons

in Las Vegas, and they financially support families

that have been impacted by pediatric cancer. And we had

originally connected with them. We made a donation to them at

the end of one of our semesters, and they came back and asked if

they could make a connection with us, and they came and did a

presentation. And that was the beginning of a very deep

relationship between the Tyler Robinson Foundation and the

Dawson design company, to the point where we have actually

hosted some of the kids that benefited from the donations of

the Tyler Robinson foundation in terms of their cancer treatment.

We hosted some of their kids at our school in a design morning.

And I was just thinking we, when we used to have the Dawson

design company, we used to use $1 sign for the s in design.

We've actually taken or I've taken out that piece, because

when I first started the class, I was like, oh, it'd be great to

make money and support causes. And now I realize that the more

important piece is the actual connection, the human connection

between the kids and the organizations that we support.

And so now we just use a regular s, because the focus is just

much more on connection community and just getting to

know the people that are on the receiving end of the work that

we do. I love

that. I love that. Thank you, gunner. What do

you think the future looks like for you, sir.

So I don't really know what I want to do in the future,

but I definitely want to keep doing design and working with

technology throughout school, and maybe I could even get a job

similar to that area, but I definitely don't really know yet

what I want to do, totally

fine, kind of similar to gunner, just like not really

knowing what I'm gonna do, but like using the skills that I've

learned in DDC Dawson design company, both like the work

skills, just the general skills and the specific design skills

and innovative skills, just in whatever I do. Maybe it's

personal, maybe it'll be my job one day, but I just think taking

what you learned from here and just applying that to something

you do in real life, which is cool. You

are very evolved young humans. What you

do is not as important as who you are and how you make people

feel. So you guys are fantastic in that vein, for sure. So let

me ask you this, does anyone have a guess of what Hiram

taught when he was a middle school teacher? Let's hear your

guesses. Should I give him a hint, a hint, one hint, one

hint, you get one hint, one hint. Let's

see ch four plus o2 yields h2 plus CO two

science.

Yeah, look at that. Was too good of a hint.

Yep, he was a science teacher before he went into all the

technology stuff. And the other gentleman that we co host with,

who isn't here right now, he taught, it's fine arts, your

third grade, third grade, a third grade teacher became a

technology leader. And here we have a science teacher that

became

Can I also, I used to be a science teacher as well,

and about 10 years ago, teaching science, but I came across a

video on the first 3d printable prosthetics. So we had a group

of eighth graders at Brookwood School in Massachusetts, and we

built a prosthetic for my son, Max, who is now one of my

students there. And there was this moment where the kids who

had built the prosthetic gave it to max, and he was able to pick

things up with the prosthetic that he had never been able to

do before. And I had this both paradigm shift, but a little

epiphany that, oh, there's this new generation of technology

that allows kids to make a difference right now, not

waiting until they're adults to be able to do that. And all of

the work that we do right now in just the field of authentic uses

of technology, for me, stem from that moment where we did this

little just sort of one off club project, building a hand for a

child that now, even just 10 years later, that still

persists. So I love

it. Well, you guys, I'm so glad that you

were brave to come to this conference. I'm certainly proud

of you and excited that you won the Aspire award for the first

time, the first Aspire award. But coming to this conference

full of adults and holding your own, I am quite impressed, and I

hope you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed your first experience

with a professional development conference like this. And maybe,

who knows, maybe you guys will be back here as my members at

some point. And

I think everybody knows Middle School

rocks. They're like it rocks. Maybe

you can do all sorts of fun stuff in middle school. I

don't think they believe it. Yeah. Oh, you

got one believer. You go one believer. The rest of them are

like, yeah, we're not so sure about that. Well, thank you guys

so much for joining us on the podcast. Thank you for being

guests with us. I hope you've had a great time at Atlas, and

you're welcome back to come hang out anytime you want to come

back and present next year. Just let me know. Thank you all. Have

a great day, guys.

This has been talking technology with Atlas,

produced by the Association of technology leaders in

independent schools. For more information about Atlas and

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