Beyond just hearing about the importance of innovation in learning and thinking, students in all three divisions this year have been treated to “D-Edicated’ time spent on immersive innovation-centric, design thinking models IRL (in real life), thanks to D-E Innovation Days and various opportunities to present their research skills.

For the Upper School, this year’s D-E Innovation Day took place with various workshops around hands-on skills and technology. Both Middle and Upper School students enjoyed a keynote address from the extremely gregarious and inspiring entrepreneur, alumnus Alex Koren ’12.  Alex shared memorable notes and advice about his own career path and personal philosophy toward the process of  innovative thinking (and problem-solving).   In his words, “A problem for one person is most likely a problem for others; Every problem has a way through it. Every problem may not be a silver bullet, but small changes make real change!  Finally, anyone can SOLVE problems.”* The rest of the day was split into Design Thinking and Innovation workshops where students learned about AI and tools like Canva, Photoshop, and Cricut.

Meanwhile in our Lower School, the 4th Grade hosted their Research Presentations in the small gym. Faculty, staff, and parents were invited to learn about a plethora of topics from The Hindenburg to the history of Hollywood. The presentations were the culminating piece to their Writing and Reading Workshops for the Non-Fiction unit. Students were shining with pride, sharing their unique interests and hard work.