Joe Romano Receives Northwest Association Fellowship
Library Media Specialist and Upper School Teacher Joe Romano has been selected as one of six Northwest Association of Independent Schools Futurist Fellows for 2018-19.
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The fellows, who went through a rigorous and competitive application process, are tasked with imagining the future of independent schools through a design experience with an interdisciplinary group of colleagues. Their guiding question is "How might we reimagine our current schools so that we sustain, flourish and thrive into the future?"
According to the global design company IDEO, “Design Thinking is a mindset. It’s Human-Centered. It’s Collaborative. It’s Optimistic. It’s Experimental.”
"As one of only six educators selected to participate in the NWAIS Futurist Fellow Program, Joe Romano epitomizes each of these qualities of a design thinking mindset," said Assistant Head of Schools and Director of Upper School for Boys Susan Bauska. "Joe consistently tries to reimagine what 'school' can be, always with learners and collaboration at the center. He pushes us, his colleagues, just as he pushes students never to be content with the status quo. Independent schools need more thinkers like Joe, and we’re fortunate that he and his futurist fellows can imagine together the ideas that will keep independent education and schools like Annie Wright relevant and vibrant."
Students in Joe's Architecture & Design course are currently building a tiny house for a homeless community in Seattle. This Saturday Joe will host 70 teachers and administrators from around the region at Annie Wright for edCamp Puget Sound, a biannual "unconference" for educators to learn from each other. He has published articles about teaching design in Strength magazine and most recently for the Teacher Vision blog.
Fellows will share their findings with the NWAIS community, comprising nearly 70 schools in the Pacific Northwest, at the end of the 2018-19 academic year.
According to the global design company IDEO, “Design Thinking is a mindset. It’s Human-Centered. It’s Collaborative. It’s Optimistic. It’s Experimental.”
"As one of only six educators selected to participate in the NWAIS Futurist Fellow Program, Joe Romano epitomizes each of these qualities of a design thinking mindset," said Assistant Head of Schools and Director of Upper School for Boys Susan Bauska. "Joe consistently tries to reimagine what 'school' can be, always with learners and collaboration at the center. He pushes us, his colleagues, just as he pushes students never to be content with the status quo. Independent schools need more thinkers like Joe, and we’re fortunate that he and his futurist fellows can imagine together the ideas that will keep independent education and schools like Annie Wright relevant and vibrant."
Students in Joe's Architecture & Design course are currently building a tiny house for a homeless community in Seattle. This Saturday Joe will host 70 teachers and administrators from around the region at Annie Wright for edCamp Puget Sound, a biannual "unconference" for educators to learn from each other. He has published articles about teaching design in Strength magazine and most recently for the Teacher Vision blog.
Fellows will share their findings with the NWAIS community, comprising nearly 70 schools in the Pacific Northwest, at the end of the 2018-19 academic year.
