The student user.
At Comp Sci High, I had the opportunity to build a design curriculum for the Adobe Certified Professional certification. In doing so, I challenged students to create their own designs throughout the process. Every project was rooted in personal narrative and cultural exploration, pushing students to discover their creative voices through productive struggle. The result spoke for itself — 98% of students became Adobe Certified Professionals.
TEAM
1 instructor
65+ students
WHERE
Comp Sci High
2022-2024
TOOLS
Adobe Illustrator
ROLE
Instructor
& curriculum designer
Reflection
When I started teaching, I thought I knew what an eleventh-grade designer needed. My first year proved me wrong. It taught me that every learner builds differently, and that the strongest growth is self-driven and rooted in who the student is.
So I rebuilt my curriculum around my students. Instead of teaching to pass a certification, I taught what they could carry into their own lives. Lasting learning doesn't start when you teach a skill. It starts when a student sees that skill in their own world and puts it to use.
It wasn't tidy, but the chaos built real self-awareness. Students got honest about where they were and clearer about where they wanted to go.