Never Stop Learning and Always Stay Curious
Riley Nicholson (EDI '26) learned a crucial mindset as an incoming student in Northwestern's Master of Science in Engineering Design Innovation (EDI) program: Never stop learning and always stay curious.
That lesson was emphasized during her Camp EDI experience upon arrival at Northwestern. Camp EDI is a pre-term orientation workshop designed to prepare first-year students for the EDI program. The goal of Camp EDI is to familiarize students with the resources, tools, and creative spirit that will define their time in the program while simultaneously helping them build relationships with classmates, faculty, and staff.
Each year, two students serve as Camp EDI co-leaders. These two help plan the orientation and look to enhance the orientation based upon their own experiences from the previous year.
Riley brought that curiosity mindset to her role and challenged herself and co-lead Josh Greenburg (EDI '26) to make some aspects of Camp EDI experience even better for first-year students. They decided to focus on creating opportunities for the new classmates to get to know one another and build the bonds necessary for the cohort to succeed in the coming 18 months.
Riley and Josh ultimately chose a simple task to deepen student bonds. They asked students to design their own name tags, which students took with them as they moved around the Ford Engineering Design Center so people could see more of each other's personalities and interact with more of their classmates. Riley and Josh also facilitated dedicated lunchtime activities and introduced After Hours opportunities for students to explore Evanston and Chicago together.
"We wanted to show the new students that this is a very collaborative, exciting, but also a high-effort program," Josh said. "We wanted everyone to start their EDI journey with excitement, confidence, and a willingness to push themselves."
Throughout his time as Camp EDI co-lead, Josh often found himself thinking back to previous roles as a summer camp and outdoor activity guide. The opportunity to apply some of what he did then in outdoor settings to a classroom environment was a unique challenge that he relished.
"Working in a team is one form of leadership, but working as a guide is another form of leadership," he said. "It's challenging with the amount of information you need to convey and the number of questions you need to answer, but setting a good example of a willingness to help out and promoting collaboration among everyone was my north star in how I tried to lead during Camp EDI, and I will take that with me into my career."
Riley had a similar mindset with how she learned to grow as a leader.
"Getting to not only help this cohort of 27 different people grow as designers, but be able to grow with them by learning from their perspectives and excitement, is something I am privileged to be able to take with me forever," Riley said. "Camp EDI taught me how to love learning last year, and being able to lead others helped remind me of that passion."
During Camp EDI, students apply design skills they learn to a personal project of their choosing. The project is not meant to be designed for others, but instead is an opportunity for new students to explore and experiment as they begin their EDI journey.
"We wanted the more abstract aspects of design to be conveyed, many of which are best experienced rather than thought," Josh said. "Rapid prototyping, suspending dissent for ideation, and being open to new things are concepts you have to experience, and we set the foundation for this at Camp EDI."
By applying human-centered design lessons they learned in the classroom to the Camp EDI experience, Riley and Josh found the event—and the planning for it—to be a learning opportunity for themselves as well.
"I became more empathetic in my communication by explaining difficult concepts to students who may not have experienced a tool or software before," Riley said. "I also learned the nuance of helping someone through something in the ways they needed most. Some students needed help that was more hands-on, some needed tough love, and some needed to be pushed further outside of their comfort zones to be able to grow."
