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Exhibitions/Awards | Designing | Spring 2019 4 Spreading the word As the leading secondary school of Design and Technology in Peru, it could be easy to become complacent. However, at Markham College it is not in our nature. Our department have decided we should be striving to inspire not only our students, but also other international schools in our city to take a bigger interest in this subject and the opportunities it offers. We continue our journey to break down the pre-conceptions of parents, broaden students’ aspirations and increase the number pursuing design related courses in higher education. D&T Week Our vision for Design and Technology this year has been to shake up students’ knowledge of the subject and the opportunities and careers that await them in the design industry. We decided to launch a week to celebrate the subject and engage the whole school in an event offering inspiration and variety. Design Venture was born, and our goal was to get absolutely everyone involved. We hosted a week of design related challenges, cross-curricular links, sponsored competitions, guest speakers, workshops, talks by alumni in the industry and short film showings to ignite a frenzy within our school about design. We invited two of our neighbouring schools to participate and spread the buzz of design further. This upped the stakes for the participants who produced higher calibre entries to dazzle our sponsors and judges. A great many challenges were set, from creative writing to innovative designs, photography to sustainable solutions, architecture to user centred inventions – students from all different disciplines found something to ignite their passion. Support systems We contacted local companies in the industry and gained their support through sharing our initiatives and offering them the chance to connect with the talented future designers at our school. Sponsors came from a range of backgrounds and gave presentations to spike interest and support workshops to share their industry knowledge. To top this off, our sponsors offered generous incentives as prizes such as work experience opportunities. Showcase celebration To celebrate the innovation that took place throughout the week we arranged a large exhibition to showcase the entries. An array of stakeholders was invited, including students, parents and staff across all three schools and further neighbouring schools we hope will join us in next year’s event. During the exhibition, attendees explored the entries from across the design challenges alongside our display of outstanding work throughout the year. Our sponsors and judges gave Design Venture at Markham College Rachel Wyncoll
