2nd-year dual credit students at the University of North Texas are combining creativity and civic engagement through a project focused on strengthening the sense of community in Frisco. Tasked with addressing specific local issues labeled ‘wicked problems’, students have presented innovative proposals that aim to enrich public life and foster greater connections between Frisco residents.
Students were granted the creative and intellectual freedom to solve a particular problem with the hopes of creating a sense of place within Frisco.
“My project is focused on remodeling Frisco ISD school libraries to include makerspace areas that allow students with more opportunities for collaborative studies,” senior Presley Sockwell said. “My project promotes a sense of place in Frisco because it provides students with a place to connect inside their schools which ideally is already seen as a safe space for them.”
Some proposals are taking this opportunity a step further by implementing real-world executions of their projects to further create a sense of place. “Our proposal is called Frisco Artscape, which is the addition of pieces of art created by local artists to certain public and government buildings around Frisco,” senior Tyler Lambert said. “Along with this, we will be creating an app and attempt to market all of the current public art already in Frisco.”
Students have also found inventive ways to help Frisco residents engage with their projects and further incorporate them into the community using practical applications of their ideas.
“Along with the app, we are promoting a semi-annual contest. The people of Frisco can visit five or more of the art pieces, and can then vote on the one they favor the most,” Lambert said. “We will set aside an amount of allotted money, purchase the piece, and permanently integrate this into our collection. In doing so we are bringing together the people in the community and providing a sense of place.”
Students have drawn upon a range of academic disciplines and skills from collaboration to critical thinking, which has offered them a chance to improve their abilities in many ways. “Research projects have definitely enriched my dual credit experience,” Sockwell said. “I have learned how to work well with others while thinking critically to work to solve a wicked problem.”
In tackling such problems in the community, students encountered certain difficulties. “The most challenging part of this proposal was finding a project that my entire group cared about,” Sockwell said. “Additionally, we wanted our project to make a difference but to also be realistic.”
Despite this, students believe that such challenges only enriched their dual credit experience.
“Looking back, I think I wouldn’t have done anything different; all of the mistakes that I made, I learned from and benefited from,” Lambert said. “For me, mistakes are truly the best way to improve and learn, so I take these not as a setback, but as a way to improve on anything possible.”
These presentations have provided numerous benefits to students’ academic careers, with many believing the project has helped them succeed in various aspects of their education. “These projects have really helped me in all senses of my life by establishing a strong ground of communication,” Lambert said. “I am able to apply this to my job, my classes, and even my college [applications].”
The project has also allowed the students, all of whom are seniors, to prepare for further education. “As I look upon my near future, I intend to attend Oklahoma University where I will major in Electrical Engineering,” Lambert said. “It requires immense amounts of studying, hard work, and commitment, which I have learned or enhanced through this program, and subsequently through the projects.”
Overall, UNT’s dual credit students are demonstrating the power of community-oriented design and the value of spaces that encourage creativity and connection, not only in Frisco, but within their program itself. “By collaborating and bouncing ideas off of each other, we create a very tight knit community,” Lambert said.
