Former middle and high school teacher Jonathan Griffiths is pleased to have the opportunity to work with young people again.
“They’re really curious. They have interesting ideas and interesting solutions,” he said. “They’re passionate and they love what they’re doing.”
Griffith, director of the Weisman Foundry at Babson College, enjoyed the opportunity to mentor a group of high school students from Dana Hall School last month in a prototyping and storytelling session in collaboration with the Arthur M. Blank School of Entrepreneurial Leadership.
“It makes students realize how simple and powerful a prototype can be,” Griffiths says. “I think it’s going to be a transformative experience.”
Nineteen junior and senior students from the all-girls school in Wellesley, Massachusetts, enjoyed a transformative and inspiring day on the campus of Babson College as part of the week-long Girls Summer Entrepreneurship Program (GSEP). This is the second year that Dana Hall students have visited Babson College as part of GSEP. During GSEP, students learn about the entrepreneurial process and work in teams to develop product ideas.
At Babson, students experienced that same entrepreneurial spirit and action firsthand.® Babson College students learn and practice the ET&A™ approach. The Foundry experience is crucial because it is where students’ ideas begin to take shape.
“I’m really passionate about the thinking and work that goes on in makerspaces and the types of applications that can be leveraged in the classroom,” Griffiths said. “This is something that’s really important, especially in entrepreneurial education, so it’s something that every student at Babson does.”
Developing ideas
The high school students arrived at Babson having already identified a problem and an idea for solving it. Five student teams proposed app-based solutions to a variety of issues, including what to eat, what to wear, how to simplify technology for seniors, and how to identify students’ learning styles.
“They’re trying to solve real-world problems,” Griffiths says. “They’re still trying to solve big problems that are going to fundamentally change people’s lives.”
Throughout the morning, Griffith and program assistant Maddie Stoltz (Arthur M. Blank School Entrepreneurial Leadership Scholar, Class of ’27) guided the students through a series of exercises to further develop their ideas. In breakout sessions, students collaborated at whiteboards to identify and refine three key features of their app. Griffith also encouraged the groups to focus on their target customers, visualizing and creating individual consumer profiles and giving them names like Ralph and Bertha.
“This is invaluable because it’s so different from what they learn every day at school,” Dana Hall Principal Katherine Bradley said. “It builds on what they learn at school, but it’s not exactly the same.”
Bradley also praised the Foundry for being a place of hands-on learning and high engagement with students.
“As is often the case in education, it’s the people that make the difference,” she said. “Just hearing how (Griffith) works with the kids is amazing. Having someone who not only really knows what they’re talking about, but also knows how to work with students is really important.”
The power of prototyping
By the afternoon, students will have taken their ideas and conceptualized information and built prototypes out of cardboard and basic materials, translating their ideas, some digital, into a physical representation.
Griffiths says people often think of prototyping as involving 3D printing, AI and other advanced technologies. “But construction paper, cardboard and cardboard are just great, frankly, easy media to work with,” he says. “You can still really express your ideas.”
“It’s really encouraging to see students get feedback on their ideas during a 30-minute prototyping session,” Griffiths added, “and I think it changes their ideas about what a prototype really should be.”
“It’s amazing to see students take the knowledge they just learned in a one-day session and apply it for the next five, 10, 15 years.”
Jonathan Griffiths, Director, Weissman Foundry
Prototypes, even rudimentary ones, are important in helping entrepreneurs share their vision and tell their story not only with customers but especially with potential investors. Dana Hall students will be able to put what they’ve learned and their prototypes to use in GSEP’s climax, a “Shark Tank”-style presentation competition called “Dragon’s Lair,” named after the school’s mascot.
“This type of education is not currently included in the academic programs we offer,” said Michelle Keel, program director for GSEP. “It is very complementary to what we teach at Dana Hall, so providing our students with access to this education is very special.”
Griffiths says introducing young students to a space like the Foundry, where they can easily make anything, can have a long-term impact.
“Most high schools don’t give you this experience,” he said, “and it’s amazing to see students take this valuable knowledge they just learned in a one-day session and then apply it for the next five, 10, 15 years.”
‘infinite possibilities’
In addition to lessons in prototyping and product development, one of the highlights for the students was learning from Donna Levin, the founding CEO of The Blank School.
She shared her inspiring journey, which began when she grew up in Chicago and wanted to become a journalist because of the title character on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” and shared the incredible twists and turns of her career that took her from college to high-growth tech roles at companies like Furniture.com and Upromise to co-founding Care.com, before moving on to higher education where she had the opportunity to impact so many future leaders.
“Every opportunity, and sometimes difficulty, that life presents is a springboard to endless possibilities,” she said afterwards, noting that despite the best plans and intentions, it’s often necessary, and even beneficial, to take a different path.
Levin was excited to share her experiences and lessons with a group of engaged female students. “This is a conversation I’ve wanted to have. I haven’t had many opportunities to engage with female leaders or peer groups,” she said. “So, when there’s an opportunity to engage with high school students, my answer is always yes.”
Levin was impressed with the young students at Dana Hall and the opportunities they offered at Babson, such as prototyping experiences. “It’s extremely rewarding to realize that you can bring your ideas to life,” she said.
During the day, students also enjoyed campus tours and a Q&A session with members of the admissions team. “We hope that every student decides that Babson is their future,” Levin said. “At the very least, we think that Babson is somewhere in their continuing educational journey and challenges.”
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