![\"\"](\"\/hub\/files\/2020\/05\/spark.png\")
<\/p>\nMay 12, 2020
\nBy Devyani Chhetri<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cross-College Challenge (XCC)<\/a> is now pacing towards this semester\u2019s homestretch and students are doing what they do best: creating and collaborating.<\/p>\n In XCC\u2019s Spark!<\/a> Innovation Fellowship program, students have been designing software that provide solutions to tackle roadblocks people from different walks of life face.<\/p>\n Ranging from solutions that foster a disabled-friendly environment to ideas that transform how students strategize their study time in a bid to decrease anxiety, Spark! Fellows are doing it all.<\/p>\n Guiding them through this are XCC faculty members Prof. James Grady<\/a> and Ziba Cranmer<\/a>, Director of BU SPARK!, who much like their students, have put together their strengths in design, innovation and computer programming to help materialize projects.<\/p>\n In how team-building and software development expert Richard Kasperowski, one of the instructors who is also teaching the program phrased it, Grady said it was like being on the music show, the Voice. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to be like the student\u2019s coaches and help them figure out obstacles.\u201d<\/p>\n The students also have another layer of mentors from backgrounds of product development, software engineering and graphic design to work through the nitty-gritties of their ideas, he said.<\/p>\n When asked about how Cranmer and he were coping with the current changes, Grady emphasized the nature of the class. \u201cIt\u2019s a technology based class and a lot of it happens online anyway,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Referring to his students as particularly \u201cself-motivated\u201d, Grady said that while there have been challenges in making connections owing to time differences, the faculty has tried establishing one on one interactions with students to troubleshoot any issues.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the students miss getting together,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they use Slack and Github to make software\u2014so they\u2019re working mostly with screens and have been adapting very well.\u201d<\/p>\n One could sense how proud both Grady and Cranmer were of the work their students had been doing throughout their time as educators. \u201cThey\u2019re not constrained by the boundaries that you become accustomed to as you get older,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019d [students] be less willing to challenge their freedom and their sense of possibility and optimism.\u201d<\/p>\n Grady, who has a background in creative design, had a similar thought. \u201cI really enjoy the energy from the students,\u201d he said. \u201cI love sharing ideas with them. After working for so long, I know that there are political hierarchies that happen within industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But that changes with students, he said. \u201cThey’re just really energetic and excited to make something and talk to you about it and share,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In their classes, Grady and Cranmer have always emphasized the value of experiential learning and how it impacts their growth in a competitive industry. Then there\u2019s also the love for art that started it all.<\/p>\n When asked about their \u201corigin story\u201d as Grady coined it, both had responses reflective of Neil Gaiman\u2019s directive of \u2018making good art \u2018 against all odds.<\/p>\n With a career spanning over 20 years in the industry where he worked with Boston based branding firm, kor group, Fathom Information Design and now runs his own design consultancy, Grady was influenced by supportive parents and art teachers and knew that he wanted to be a graphic designer.<\/p>\n \u201cI just really like drawing, coloring, building things and putting things together,\u201d Grady said. Meanwhile, Cranmer has been a jack of all trades. \u201cI’ve had a lot of different careers,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cI knew that for this current chapter I wanted to work on innovation and technology that had social impacts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Describing herself as \u201cconnector of different fields\u201d, Cranmer has worked historically in international development as well as at Nike where she held the reins of corporate responsibility and worked on sex trafficking nationally.<\/p>\n The next step now for the faculty is figuring out the final demo day.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been working out the finer details of how to show presentations and working software with the XCC cohort from other courses,\u201d said Grady.<\/p>\n The Spark! Innovation Fellowship Program<\/a> will come back next fall revamped as HUB XC 475<\/a>. Students can now go and apply if they meet the prerequisites.<\/p>\n This article was written by Devyani Chhetri, a graduate assistant with XCC.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" May 12, 2020 By Devyani Chhetri Cross-College Challenge (XCC) is now pacing towards this semester\u2019s homestretch and students are doing what they do best: creating and collaborating. In XCC\u2019s Spark!…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16678,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16678"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5966"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5970,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5966\/revisions\/5970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nCranmer, who has had an eclectic career and was recently awarded the \u201cEXTRAordinary Women of Boston\u201d award by the Mayor\u2019s office, said that the students brought with them a sense of possibility.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThat was the best I was at, that was the thing I could do and just who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n