Ken Hiraki wanted to make sure his daughter Maya’s 15th birthday last year would be memorable.
Birthday luau? Those are for babies.
Spa day? So done.
Slumber party? Zzz.
Eschewing the conventional, the former state representative drew from training he received through his current work at Hawaiian Telcom to plan the perfect party for his already well-gifted firstborn — a problem-solving session based on design thinking, a methodology of "radical collaboration" that is popular in business, academia and other professional fields.
Woo hoo!
"It was sort of my nerdy birthday party," says Maya Hiraki, a junior at Punahou. "But it was really fun."
For three hours, Hiraki and her friends learned the basics of the design thinking process — empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test — and applied them to a close-to-home challenge: how to improve the Punahou Carnival.
Hiraki and pals May Niiya, Emily Nishimura and Arthur Johnston were so inspired by the exercise that they approached school officials about starting a design thinking club at Punahou.
In fact, the school had already adopted key design thinking concepts in select classrooms and in its administrative ranks thanks to the efforts of Junior School Principal Mike Walker. Administrators — particularly Associate Dean Cathy Kawano-Ching, who serves as an adviser to the teens — were thrilled at the initiative.
The club’s biggest challenge so far came when it was asked to give a workshop in design thinking for public and private school teachers on Maui.
Prep work focused on the perspectives of prospective students, anticipating needs and expectations, and brainstorming and vetting ideas for effectively communicating key concepts.
"We basically used design thinking to figure out how to teach design thinking," Niiya said.
The workshop was a success and the teens, now 22 strong, expect to pursue similar opportunities to share their lessons on campus and in the community.
"It’s been so, so, so exciting, fun and empowering," Niiya says.
Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.
