Sabbatical Reflection
Being granted a sabbatical is a gift. It is time for personal interests, intentions, research, and to commit to making a difference. Being given this time during the COVID epidemic was a blessing and a challenge. Like everyone, I wondered what COVID was, how it spread, and how it affected people worldwide. I worried about my family in different stages of life in other cities. The devastating news of people dying was heartbreaking, and the stories of care workers inspiring. Yet, it was all one could do to study the COVID maps of contagion and to read the stories of people and families devastated by the virus. It was heartbreaking. Ensuing isolation from friends and family and the grief of the reality of a global epidemic made focus untenable. The change in living anchored to one place sequestered most of us to the confines of our home and immediate neighborhood. We were grateful to have a roof over our head and access to food.
It also opened deeper understandings of what prior generations endured during world wars and mass migrations, devastating populations of people born with the potential to contribute. After weeks of watching, grieving, and helping, it became clear that while all generations were subject to COVID, the toll was the most significant among the youth, now homeschooled, masked at school, or isolated during their expansion years. With workshops canceled, the opportunity to introduce fun and engaging activities teamed NEXT.cc’s E-learning resources on phones, tablets, and computers, at school and home, with the School Zone Institute to create Creativity Connections to introduce fun and engaging activities children and parents and children and teachers could do together. (https://www.next.cc/page/creativity-connections).
During COVID the NEXT.cc site usage expanded. I became incredibly grateful for the multi-cultural, multi-continental, and multi-generational team of over 500 students, professionals, and educators (over 15 years) for reaching out and sharing
opportunities. I am ever thankful for the continued work of interns during COVID; Keyi Zheng, Sam Luo, Xinlei Chen, Dylan Groshek, the late Danielle Christian Tyler, Isabelle Rizo, Amy Ernst, Kelsey Robinson, and Ashley Sohn, invested time and effort to expand NEXT.cc’s offerings. With their efforts, we are pleased to announce publication of NEW WATER, ENERGY, FOOD Journals to engage students in the nexus of climate change and are working on publishing other creative journey Journals.
In the meantime, with in-person workshops canceled, NEXT.cc participated in virtual career days with Chicago Public Schools and Schools around the country. Conference presentations, planned with The United States Department of Education, EU Consultants in Germany, a Design Literacy Conference inChina, Eco Sensing Panels in Australia, also became virtual. The power of digital connectivity helped the NEXT.cc Team share ideas and strategies with struggling K12 youth and teachers around the world. In the Spring of 2022NEXT.cc participated in the I CORE NSF Great Lakes Region Grant through the University of WI-Milwaukee to support its work with underserved youth-elementary, middle, and high school. We called and interviewed fifty architecture and construction firms about their policies andprogress on DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, ESG (Environmental Sustainability Governance), and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). These conversations revealed the need to cultivate opportunities for diverse school populations of children in K12 around the world to connect with the places in which they live and learn, and to cultivate place-based projects to improve situations. We are in a massive time of change with climate, culture, and connectivity on the move. Now more than ever, the world needs human imagination and creativity. Our work continues.
-Linda Nelson Keane, FAIA, Professor Emerita of Architecture and Environmental Design
