Shawna dropped out of high school between her sophomore and junior years because she was unengaged in academics and did not consider her future career goals. After dropping out, she realized getting a job without a high school degree was difficult. She decided to get her GED and enjoyed learning in that supportive environment. The encouragement from her GED classmates and teachers motivated her to accomplish getting her GED. Now she feels ready to go to college, get an education, and find a good job.

1. Empathy Map: Sparzo: Design Thinking August 3, 2013
“I didn’t like high school and never thought about the future”
“No one was thinking about getting jobs after graduation.”
“We just wanted to have fun and live for today.”
“High School was a big social event, academics was ignored.”
“I dropped out between sophomore and junior year then I
realized I had to get a job and not having a degree made it
harder to get a good job.”
“As soon as I left school I realized I had to make changes
I decided to get a GED.”
“While there I loved learning, finally.”
“I liked the supportive nature of my GED classmates &
teachers.”
I am NOT going to live life a dropout and a
druggie
I’m tired to drifting around and mooching off
friends
This sucks. There has to be a better way
When I was in the GED program I felt I was
finally accomplishing something valuable
The support and encouragement motivated
me.
I felt like a loser in high school
I pretended there was plenty
of time and wasn’t going to
worry about the future.
Once I decided to get my GED I
felt motivated, and then
accomplished and proud.
Now I feel ready to find a
college and really get an
education and then a good
job!
I observed Shawna during the
interview. She looked me right
in the eye, was confident and
very frank about the mistakes
she made.
I observed what looked like
ambition and a sense of being
in control during the interview.
Problem Statement: Shawna needed a better set of strategies to be more engaged in high school and encouraged to consider
the future as a more urgent or timely component of her life goals so that she could have avoided 3+ years of drift,
unemployment and hardship.
NOTE: This Map is in the past tense. She has successfully engineered her own solution by seeking out Adult Ed, getting a GED and is now working at a
retail job while saving for college. Her hope was our redesign project would improve opportunities for kids still in high school. GMS