YEAR: 2016
Partner
XQ Institute (Emerson Collective)
Location
Nationwide, U.S.
Context / Challenge
The American high school system was under scrutiny: outdated, rigid, and failing to engage students for a changing world. XQ Institute wanted a bold, public activation to catalyze fresh conversations about education, seeking a partner who could translate the urgency of systemic reform into a visceral, hands-on experience.
Role
Tour experience designer, facilitator, and strategic partner (Social Imagineer) — responsible for translating the movement's abstract principles into a modular, high-impact traveling learning laboratory.What
We Built
The XQ Super School Bus Tour, a mobile activation that brought the mission on the road. Over ~3 years, the bus visited 33 states, hosted 197 activations, and engaged 50,000+ people (including students, educators, and community leaders). At each stop, we created immersive learning labs, interactive workshops, storytelling events (often utilizing recording booths), and community design sessions. The bus itself became a symbol and a rolling signifier of education reimagined.
Approach / Methods
Immersive touring event design with modular activations; youth-led storytelling platforms; community-based co-design and open dialogues; and the masterful use of mobile infrastructure (the bus as an experiential vessel) to meet the community where they were.
Impact / Outcomes
Elevated a national conversation on rethinking high school architecture and design; centered youth voices in education reform discourse, collecting thousands of ideas from across the country; sparked local community groups to prototype new learning models; and reinforced the signature methodology of designing at scale—from buses to entire systems.
Story
“We turned tour stops into classrooms of possibility — where everyone was a designer, proving that the best way to predict the future is to create it.”
Tags
Education Reform, National Tour, Experience Design, Youth Engagement, Mobile Activation, Systemic Change
