Lee A. Tolbert Community Academy MECA Challenge
The Challenge:
How might we use art to express what being a leader and entrepreneur means to us?
In May, our Education team partnered with the Lee A. Tolbert Community Academy to offer a one-day MECA Challenge for middle school students to explore how they might use art to display leadership and entrepreneurship at the school campus. Each team presented mural concepts to a panel of judges, inspired by the Academy’s mission and their community. Using the Design Thinking methodology, students presented the concepts below.
Featured Mural Concepts
Jack and the Beanstalk Mural
This mural concept, inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk, represents student leaders pushing forward to the clouds, achieving their goals, empowered by support from the community. The bright color palette and motivational quotes in the clouds would bring joy and motiviation to the community.
Knowledge is Power Mural
This mural concept communicates how far the African American community has come, from writing on the sand as slaves to becoming college graduates. The message, “knowledge and power is my greatest weapon” represents the key values of the Lee A. Tolbert Community Academy.
The Next Phase
Coming Soon: Knowledge is Power Mural
School leaders are working to transform the winning pitch into reality by commissioning muralists to develop the “Knowledge is Power” concept on the school campus (left). The artists will incorporate components of all the pitches so all of the teams’ ideas are represented. Thank you to Chris Haghirian for leading this effort, along with support from American Shaman and SprayKC. Stay tuned for more progress and updates!
Key Takeaways
After this experience:
over 60% of students said they were confident or very confident in their ability to solve real world problems
55% of students said they were confident or very confident in their ability to create solutions for others
over 60% of students said they were confident or very confident in their ability to create a prototype of an idea of their own
“Our mural shows how far African American people can come. To most people, we’re just a statistic. Just to have that mural on the wall would be great so that younger generations can know what you can become.”
- Student from the “Knowledge is Power” team
