I have come to realize that there are a lot of terms I use in daily language that aren’t common to people outside of my network. Therefore, this is a set of terms and a version of definitions (no definition is perfect) that appear on this site which may be confusing to understand. I have also provided links with some terms as a place for further exploration on a given concept.
Comment with any other words you’d like me to explain or with feedback on varying definitions; conversation is key to understanding!
Pinya: A nickname for me developed because since middle school I’ve been signing my name with a pi symbol that has a line in the middle to make it look like the A in Anya; therefore, people started calling me “Pi-nya” pronounced like the number “π” plus “nya.” (It is not pronounced like “piña” despite popular belief.)
Design Thinking: Human centered problem solving full of empathy and iterative prototype to learn by doing and to meet the needs of a user(s).
DEEPdt: A design thinking process where people go through a non-linear process of discovering, empathizing, experimenting, and producing.
FlashLab: A quick introduction/crash course into the design thinking process.
Innovation Diploma (ID): This 4-year program empowers learners to work on real world projects and deliver high quality solutions to clients through a human-centered approach. Cohort members use design thinking as a tool to move from problem to impact, while enhancing their skills as innovators. –innovationdiploma.com
MVIFI: The Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation is a team of maverick leaders and educational designers who are helping schools transform through people-centered design.- mvifi.org
Mount Vernon: Mount Vernon Presbyterian School is my high school in Atlanta Georgia.- mountvernonschool.org
Learner Centered: All components are designed for the education experience to be adaptable to the needs and potential of each learner and supports the highest possible outcomes for each and every learner. –The Movement: Transforming Education
iVenture: A student driven deep dive into a particular overarching question or theme. This may include multiple projects over several years of time, but the iVenture is the common thread connecting those projects together.
Example: My iVenture is exploring student voice in the education transformation movement.
coVenture: A student driven group project where a team identifies a problem that they want to explore further as a design challenge.
adVenture: A more heavily facilitated design thinking experience driven by a mentor typically conducted in no more than a week.
Consultivation: A 90 minute design thinking flash-lab experience with students acting as consultants for an individual or small team. The product is a list of ideas and low-res prototypes. –“Making a Difference”
Design Brief: In short a Design Brief is a project where someone in the community seeks out a team of ID members to help them with a problem they are facing in their work; either for money, resource, or time reasons the organization can not devote to working on the project and thus outsources the project to an ID consultant team. –Design Brief Example
MoVe Talk: “Moment of Visible Empathy” (MoVe) is a Mount Vernon presentation similar to a TEDTalk. – Thinking Like a Designer
Fuse: Fuse is a total-immersion experience in design thinking. Each summer in June, MVIFI gathers educators, business leaders, social innovators, change agents and dreamers to make an impact while learning more deeply as design thinkers.- mvifi.org/fuse/
COI: The Council on Innovation comprises about 20 members — experts and visionaries in entrepreneurship, education, business, and community leadership. Called together as a league of advisors, the Council provides insights and inspiration to Mount Vernon Presbyterian School and the Mount Vernon Institute for Innovation.- mvifi.org/coi
Kemps/ Kemps Khaos: As a freshman I co-founded the Kemps Khaos club where members get to participate in a student-faculty kemps (card game) tournament over the course of the year. Our mission is to encourage student-faculty communications and build a strong team throughout the high school community with an entertaining card game challenge and competition. –Kemps on Life of Pinya
Multipotentialite: “An educational and psychological term referring to a pattern found among intellectually gifted individuals. [Multipotentialites] generally have diverse interests across numerous domains and may be capable of success in many endeavors or professions, they are confronted with unique decisions as a result of these choices.” – PuttyLike.com –“I’m a Multipotentialite”
Trailblazers: The student driven magazine on Education Transformation that I co-founded my senior year of high school.
Jump Start Gym (“the gym”): Jump Start is the kids gymnasium in Sandy Springs, Ga that’s run by my family. I coach and take acrobatics there.
Acro: Acro is short for acrobatics which is essentially gymnastics with partner(s) where we only compete on the spring floor doing either tempo (throwing/catching), balance, or combined routines. –See Routines Here
The Life of Pinya 