BLUEPRINT FOR SUCCESS

Maya Howard ’23, Juno Thompson ’23, and Ameera Fullen ’23 measure the layout for an all-school art installation.

The art and engineering class that helps prep students for the world of design

After taking a Columbus School for Girls class that explores design applications with both art and engineering perspectives, Baillie Breckenridge ’21 knew that industrial design was well suited to her.

As a senior at CSG, Breckenridge was starting to decide what she wanted to study in college and where she wanted to attend school. She knew she was interested in a design field, specifically industrial design. She decided to take the class, Design: The Intersection of Art and Engineering, after teachers recommended it to her.

Now a second-year student at the University of Cincinnati, Breckenridge is studying industrial design in the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning. She said the class she took at CSG helped her learn a great deal about the different fields included in the design world.

“I would highly recommend this class to anyone who has even the slightest interest in the design field,” she said.

At CSG, faculty are always working to evolve curricula to better meet the needs of students. One strong example of this is Design: The Intersection of Art and Engineering. This school year is the third iteration of the class, which is co-taught by Upper School Science Teacher and Form XI Dean Dr. Kevin Sweeney and Upper School Art Teacher and Fine Arts Department Chair Susan O’Connor.

The course, which counts as either an art or science credit, introduces students to design and to the designed world, building on foundational skills in math, science, and art, while applying fundamental principles of engineering, problem solving, and design. Through project-based instruction, students learn how to problem solve by applying creative skills. Students work with both 2- and 3-D designs, using design portfolios to document their ideas and results.

The idea for the course came out of the desire to better educate students who were interested in pursuing a career in

various fields of design. Dr. Sweeney had previously led the School’s Robotics program and as part of that job, started tracking the intended majors of CSG graduates. He noticed that while many students planned to pursue STEM fields such as engineering, some students who started in an engineering program in college eventually moved into fields more closely related to art and design.

“It was my observation that these students loved the aspects of engineering—such as designing, making, and testing—that they were exposed to while at CSG, but when they got into their engineering program of study in college, they started to miss the more creative side of things and looked for a new path,” Dr. Sweeney said.

After O’Connor started at CSG in 2014, Dr. Sweeney approached her about his idea for a class that could combine the best of both the engineering and art worlds. She loved the idea.

“My formal training, as well as my studio practice, is very much steeped in the Fine Arts, but I had always been interested in and inspired by the link to science,” O’Connor said. “As we talked more and more, it was clear that we could do something with that intersection—that missing The class’ unique co-teaching style further highlights the important relationship between the worlds of engineering and art. O’Connor and Dr. Sweeney are both present in every class, leading content material respective to their individual fields of study: Dr. Sweeney will lead portions with engineering elements, for example, while O’Connor will instruct students in how to sketch out their ideas.

One such sketching project was one of Breckenridge’s favorite class assignments. Students were tasked with designing the “perfect” chair using the different elements of design they had learned. The experience helped her better understand what industrial designers do.

The class also helped Breckenridge connect with Columbusarea industrial designers, who came in to discuss their designs and their day-to-day responsibilities. She’s maintained contact with some of them into her college years.

Breckenridge said she learned a great deal from Dr. Sweeney and O’Connor.

“I learned a lot about the design process and what it means to create a ‘good design,’” she said.