I’m Dutch Hansen, Co-Director of Project Launch.
If you’ve received this newsletter, it’s because you’re an instrumental part our impact, and we want to keep you in the loop!
Here’s a quick refresher on what we do:
🚀 Project Launch is a 6-yo nonprofit built to empower creative problem-solving among Central LA high school students.
Over the course of a semester, we guide each student through a personalized curriculum with three emphases: Mentorship, Project-based Learning, and Community.
Last spring, we conducted 40 hours of original research on how to most effectively create impact among the students at Hybrid High School. After redesigning the program with the help of USC’s Joint Education Project, we began hosting sessions with a cohort of 6 sophomores!
The Last Two Weeks
At session 1, we onboarded students to our 7-week curriculum, set them up with USC mentors, and led an Intro to Problem Solving workshop. Huge thanks to Café Dulce for providing student lunches!
We also sat down with each mentee to better understand their long-term goals. Among the 6 mentees, there are aspiring journalists, statisticians, and lawyers.
At session 2, we started using the laptops generously donated by Instacart and Riot Games! Using collaborative software like Figma and Slack, students mapped out problems faced in LA high schools.
Looking Forward
For the next 3 sessions, we’ll lead workshops on design thinking as a framework for creative problem solving. Mentees will also begin development of collaborative capstone projects. We’ll continue sending out these newsletters to keep you updated!
All the best,
Dutch