On May 17th, 11 6th and 7th grade girls (ages 11-12 years old) from public primary school number 2 – Szkoła Podstawowa from Kąty Wrocławskie – in Poland participated in an IGNITE event.
The girls met an expert in the field of urban design! Ms. Marta Urbańska works at the University as a lecturer of urban design and is a freelancer in urban planning and graphic design. Moreover, she also cooperates with the NGO “Code for Poland”, where she helps to design applications for smart cities.
Despite the fact that Ms Marta is our frequent guest, during our events she is always extremely interesting and creates a great atmosphere!
During the current presentation, Ms. Marta told her story and shared her hobbies and fascinations with the girls. She described that as a young girl, she loved to draw and dance. Later, as a teenager, she was wearing dental braces and that was a reason why she wanted to become a dentist. But in the end, she realized that she would never want to look in someone’s mouth. Her career path wasn’t simple and straight, but everything has led her to do her current work!
The expert showed a picture of a street from Google maps, and asked the girls how we could rescue the space in 30 minutes. The task for the girls was to describe the street and tell what were advantages and disadvantages. Later, Ms. Marta asked how the street could be changed and the girls had great ideas! They created more space for pedestrians and more green areas.
Ms. Marta explained that nowadays, the cities should be as green as possible due to climate change. Moreover, cities are for citizens not for the cars, and that’s why urban designers are now transforming wide streets into leisure sites.
I would like to thank Ms. Marta Urbańska, who has inspired the girls and expanded their horizons. Special thanks to Ms. Monika Małecka, who coordinates the groups and encourages the girls to develop their passions. I would also like to thank Cathi for her great help.
After attending this event:
100%
of students are more interested in STEM
100%
of students want to continue attending IGNITE Worldwide events
71%
of students want to study harder to attend college and further their education
Here’s what the students thought of the event:
“Time passed very quickly and pleasantly. It was a bit longer anyway, but I had the impression that the whole meeting lasted 20 minutes!”
“I really liked thinking about planning the location of individual objects, and the fact that I love to draw motivated me to develop my passion and not give up on the things I love to do!”