About a year ago, I read some tweets about this great Design workshop held in Guatemala. I was surprised! Not only kids around the world need words of encouragement to pursue their dream careers, but this was in my home country. I started digging around and started following @inspiritu, the mastermind behind Design4Kids. They do a great deal of work: throughout retreats for creative professionals, they connect with talented but under served teens in educational and cultural exchanges. Right when I heard about the workshop, it was the second one and I just couldn’t fit it in my schedule: 2009 was a busy year and a very much traveled one! I wrote down the date for the Third workshop and hoped I could make it for that one.
Last December, since I was traveling again, I was able to be part of the guest judges to the Design4Kids program, getting some feedback to the kids on their designs for their client, the Atitlán Hospital and the Diabetes campaign. Come 2010 and I was really happy to be part of Design4Kids once again. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be in Atitlán during the workshop, but did get to work with the students, along with Vanesa Juarez, teaching them about blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and what Social Media can mean for them.
This has to be one of the best experiences ever. During the workshop I got the opportunity to invite some of my friends and collegues: Rodrigo Zarco, Von Glitschka, Jacob Cass, Neto Gonzalez, Donovan Beery, Nate Voss and Telva Mejía Tefel, who joined other big names in the industry to give out critiques to their work. Thanks once again to all of you for your time. Trust me, you’ve made a difference in the lives of these students.
The coolest thing… the students made a video introducing themselves and saying thanks to the volunteers:
Look for Design4Kids work at:
- Twitter: @Design4Kids
- Flickr: Design4Kids Photostream
- YouTube: Design4Kids Channel
- Facebook: Design4Kids Fan Page