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The Design Showcase was very successful. The space looked great, the students looked great , and of course our products looked great. I really enjoyed having all sections of GDII together in one space, and being able to see what everyone else has been working on this semester. All of the classes had such great ideas, and as a whole I think we will be a very strong graduating class.
What I enjoyed most about the showcase was being able to discuss my product with interested people. I love talking about things I am passionate about with others, and all of the responses that I got were positive. I had multiple people coming up to me throughout the night telling me who I should contact to invest in my product and what local organizations would support queerie.
Overall, the best experience I had of the night was speaking with Josie Osborne, who was my Drawing 101 teacher my freshman year and is now the Director of Foundations of Art and Design here at the Peck School. Josie was extremely touched by my product and brought her partner over so she could learn about it as well. She said that she wish she would have had access to a product like this growing up, and that it would even be beneficial for adults dealing with unsupportive work environments. I will hopefully be getting together with her in the near future to discuss grant writing to launch queerie. I am also in the process of writing a proposal (on Josie’s recommendation) to speak at the 2012 Safe Schools, Safe Communities: State Superintendent’s Conference on LGBT Youth. The conference is held at the end of March and I hope to be able to share queerie with all in attendance.
I am very pleased with the results of my final product. Although I will not be continuing on to GDIII, I do plan on continuing the development and hopefully eventual creation of queerie. I have quite a few contacts and organizations in mind to help. I have become quite passionate about queerie and everything that it will do to help the LGBTQIA youth community. Although the semester is over, I truly hope this is only the beginning.
