Our team of education experts spend much of their time on campuses, speaking with faculty and administrators and observing learning spaces. We do this so we can better understand what it takes to create environments where everyone can do their best, and that can evolve as needs changes and institutions grow.  We value the insights of all our education partners—especially those of the students who learn in the spaces we help create.  This is why we sponsor an annual Student Video Contest, where we ask students to share their ideas about the learning experience.  We recently spoke to the three finalists from the 2014 contest, and asked them to explain why, in a world where learning can happen anywhere, the physical campus continues to matter.

The design program at NC State is intensely focused on collaboration. We’re in the studio for five to eight hours a day, and we spend all of our extra time there. When you walk inside the studio there is this magical energy I don’t think you can find anywhere else. Everyone is ready to help each other. You can’t help but gravitate toward one another and end up working more on each other’s problems than your own.  At the same time, we do a lot of work with other design students, as well students from across the university. We’re constantly taking in everyone’s views and strengths and building them into our work.

My experience in the design program has helped me realize how much an object like a piece of furniture can affect you. It’s one of many things in a space that has an impact on how you feel and interact with others. I’m interested in learning more about how spaces and experiences can be designed to foster creativity.

When I’m working on a project on my own, I can’t sit in a dim room and hammer away on a computer. I have to be around something that inspires me. The University’s Life Sciences building has great views of the lakes in the area. There is also a greenhouse with beautiful things to see and smell. When the weather is nice, I like to sit on the steps of one of the buildings and take in everything that’s going on outside.  In my last year in the business program, I was involved in a lot of group projects. There was teamwork in every class, and we had to get together often to write business plans. Some of my teammates would want to meet in the library or the cafeteria, but I would encourage the group to meet in new and different places. One of my favorite places to meet was the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, which has a huge open hall, a glass ceiling, and trees inside the building. The change of scenery really seemed to help us work better.

Having a place like Kendall where the teachers and the students are really supportive was essential to my learning experience.  As a graphic designer, I needed a lot of studio time. Most days, I was on campus 14 hours a day. My teachers encouraged me a lot, but it was really inside of me—the drive to be at school and embrace everything that was happening on campus. I was often informed by my surroundings, especially when I was diving into a project and working with other students. We inspired each other every single day.  In my senior year, I started to stray away and explore my own interests. It’s important to have individual time to reflect, but I spent a lot of nights during finals with a few friends from my portfolio class helping each other in the studio, making sure we had all of the resources we needed, and sharing those crazy, haphazard moments when the building was closing in two hours and we were so far behind that we didn’t think we would ever finish. Having those people to support me—and me being there to support them—really helped me grow.