Finalist 5

What problem in the world would you most like to help solve, and why?

Pressed & Sown

I am pursuing an MA in Graphic and Web Design from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. My goal as a student and designer is to broaden my visual communication skills and create impactful design for communities to thrive within. With a background as a teaching artist and printmaker, I collaborate with communities to foster individual and collective problem-solving through creative thinking and making.

Today, the world is grappling with the climate crisis, the rapid rise of AI, and a growing disconnect from what is actually helping or harming our futures. My work sits at the intersection of these tensions: I want to create thoughtful, educational design within technology, while also questioning technology's role in our daily lives. The goal isn't to reject tech, but to find a sustainable balance—using it as a tool for learning and connection, not something that consumes us or distances us from our communities and environment. I want to inspire people to use their screen time intentionally, to learn about their environment and connect with others locally. But I also believe it's healthy, even necessary, to disconnect regularly and return to slower, more thoughtful, hands-on practices. Design, for me, is a way of holding both of these truths at once: technology as a bridge to knowledge, and craft as a way back to presence.

My current capstone project, Pressed & Sown: A Sustainable Planting & Crafting App, is an ongoing study, educational resource, and DIY project highlighting the importance of native plant ecosystems in Texas and neighboring North American regions.

The app is built around this same balance. It uses digital tools to teach and track—helping users learn which plants are native to their ecoregion, start and sustain a garden, and document their progress through a digital DIY toolkit—while ultimately guiding them away from the screen and into tactile, low-impact creative practice. The technology is a starting point, not the destination. Within the app, users can access downloads and resources for transforming what they've grown into sustainable craft: botanical printing, natural dye pigments, and fiber weaving. A community database connects users to seed banks, local nurseries, and organizations, extending the goal beyond the individual garden into shared, real-world action.

I want to help offset climate change and reconnect people to one another and their surroundings in a meaningful, sustainable way—without dismissing technology's genuine benefits, but also without letting it crowd out the slower, tactile ways of knowing that craft offers. My hope is that an app like Pressed & Sown can use technology just enough to spark that shift: encouraging people to put the phone down, work with their hands, think creatively with what they have, and build new skills rooted in place. This balance—technology as a gateway, craft as the destination—is a small but meaningful step toward a healthier future. We don't have to be passive observers of change, swept along by either climate anxiety or tech overload. We can actively and thoughtfully shape how we interact with both technology and the natural world.

Thank you for considering my application. The support of a scholarship would mean a great deal in helping me complete my MA program, allowing me to focus fully on my studies and bring projects like Pressed & Sown to life with the depth and care they deserve.