Halve It Component:

My design project focuses on the Wellness pillar of our schools organisation and wellbeing. 

Wellness is not just looking after our immune systems, but rather helping adolescents be organised, have better social connections, and improve mental health. Middle School students are always wondering what is happening for the day, or what they have on in the afternoon. As a result of this, a lot of students miss their lessons because they don’t know what they are doing or where they are supposed to be. This heavily impacts their learning and their Wellbeing. Having a board to display the timetable for the day, would be in the best interest of these growing students. Then, we have the new and improved family groups, Yaoi, which would help students branch out in a social aspect of schooling, whilst still keeping their current friendships thriving. A lot of students go through school without any social connections or friends, causing a deplete in their mental wellness. If we have groups that not only encourage but cultivate these connections, it would support the mental and social wellness of our middle School students. 

School Context:

When it comes to school life schedules, it’s hectic. Students running around with five minutes left to get to a class they don’t even know they are in. This results in disorganisation and a halt in the learning process. A lot of adolescent students find it quite helpful to have a basic idea of what is going on throughout the school day. Running around at the last minute to find what class you’re in next or what elective you’re in is draining. It then can have a higher count of kids skipping class or just wandering around trying to find their class for that period which can then cause disruption to other students who are learning.

Social connections at school are sometimes harder than the work. Finding the people or person you really click with can be quite challenging, and branching out even more so. Adolescents are divided into exclusive friendship groups, with some people being pushed to the outer. This can make mental health deplete rapidly and make students feel alone and unheard. In reality, everybody needs someone to help them grow and thrive through the toughest years of their lives, their teen years.

Liveability

Liveability for humans is all about making us feel comfortable, cared for, and well. If a place is liveable it should include basic physical factors like fresh air, clean water, variety of natural spaces, and much more. It should also have factors that support mental wellness like a variety of colours, relaxed spaces, natural noises and so much more. These factors all work together like a machine to create a place with high liveability. A lot of schools lack the mental liveability which then can result in many problems in terms of mental health. If we include even more factors that focus on mental well being, students' comfort rates will rise significantly. 

My designs will focus on making adolescent students feel more stable in their social liveability and mental wellness. Instead of students rushing from class to class to try and find what lesson they have next because nobody told them, they will be able to see what their school day contains. Social liveability is just as important. Finding the people you can click with makes so much of a difference for an adolescent going through school. Even just one friend can make schooling easier. That’s why a series of groups to then cultivate these social connections would improve schooling. 

Both these factors would turn this school from cool to the dream everyone wants as their reality. If these points are taken into consideration it would upgrade the way our school functions immensely. 

Blue Zones

 My design is connected quite clearly to one of the five Blue Zones which are places where people live the longest in the world. Elders in Okinawa, Japan, one of the first Blue Zones longevity hotspots, live extraordinarily healthier and longer lives than almost anyone else in the world. Moai Groups are part of that reason. Within a moai there are normally five people. These groups are formed from a young age and can last until their hundreds. These groups support social connections and become like a second family. They help each other out in many different ways like finance. They all share one joint bank account with each other which holds all their hard earned money. From playing with each other to just meeting up or when one of them needs support, they are always there for each other no matter what. These groups have been going on for centuries and were started during the Ryukyu Kingdom era. I plan to recreate these groups with a new name, Yaoi.

This also heavily links in to my other project, Organised time tables. In many Blue Zones like Okinawa, Japan, or Sardinia, Italy, time tables are quite important. But not the time tables that contain multitudes of stress, or ones that cause anxiety, but rather ones that are relaxed. With a non hectic time table, you would be surprised how much you can accomplish during the day. Knowing what is coming next or knowing when you can have a break is quite healing and makes you feel not just good, but amazing.

How can we help reduce lack of organisation and social connections for adolescents in middle School?

The first project I am doing is a new and improved version of Family Groups called, Yaoi. These groups would consist of 10 people (maybe more if there are odd numbers) whilst having smaller groups inside the Yaoi groups called Yuri. These Yuri would consist of two or three people who are your core group. Each Yaoi group will have the name of a plant in Bundjalung. These groups will be like a family, a way to cultivate social connections and branch out when it comes to friendships, while still keeping students' core friendships thriving. Our WellNest groups would be based on Yaoi too, meaning that WellNests will be made up of two Yaoi groups. At the end of  each term, every Yaoi group must do a test to see how much they know about each other. The group with the most points wins a prize. These groups will give each student a chance to make new friendships and branch out.

My second project idea is a smart board that displays a time table for the day of the week it is. The board will contain columns, each class will have a column of the timetable. The timetable will show what lessons are on for that day, and what time they start and finish. The board will also show the date, the time of day, and reminders. The reminders will have things like what classes are going on, excursions or events, and clubs that are on for that day. There will also be a section under the a class for if their teacher is off and they have a substitute, and who the sub is. There will also be a shout out section, for students who the faculty of Middle School want to give a shout out to. This will help students get to class on time and keep organised.