Can connecting and collaborating with industry professionals and community partners through a project-based initiative create a meaningful learning and leadership experience for college students?

The author served as facilitator of a group of graphic design college students at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). These students embarked on a collaborative, 24-hour+, work-around-the-clock, creative blitz and used design thinking to serve the needs of Dalewood Middle School in Chattanooga. Students collaborated with industry professionals and community members through CreateAthon onCampus at Chattanooga. Through the lens of this experiential, project-based initiative, this study explores the students’ learning and leadership experiences, created by the connection between education, industry, and community. The DATA-DATA action-research model guided this study and embraced the author’s experiences as practitioner-researcher. Students’ public blog posts and students’ public tweets were also be used throughout this study. Through reviewing the data the author discovered that the four themes of the Map 4 Awesomeness— Passion, Purpose, Promise, and Pursuit— are prevalent. UTC students naturally captured the four themes throughout their public blog posts and tweets. By reviewing the students’ public blog posts and public tweets, the author was better able to understand what aspects of the initiative resonated mostly clearly with students. The author also determined that CreateAthon onCampus at Chattanooga was a meaningful learning and leadership experience within the graphic design curriculum at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga