2008 Southern District Student Merit Winner

Andrew Valentine has taken many steps toward becoming a designer, but the most important steps he has taken have been the ones outside his comfort zone. “I constantly challenge myself to step outside my comfort zone,” said Valentine. “It’s the only way I grow both professionally and personally.”

2008 Midwest District Student Merit Winner

Notre Dame’s Ashley Ceniceros celebrated her birthday by claiming the Midwest District’s Student Merit Award. It was a fitting present for a designer who devised a way to extend the lives of babies born in developing countries well past the day of their own birth.

“Last summer, I spent two months in Nepal designing goods for a fair trade cooperative,” she reported. “I lived with a Nepali family and worked alongside artisans everyday.”

“After looking into the tea drinking experience, I found that current tea infusers have multiple parts and have problems with dripping and stability,” Sukphisit reported.

2008 Western District Student Merit Winner

After being born in Durango, CO, Gabriel Lamb embarked on an odyssey that has taken him to Australia, Brazil, Italy and South Africa. While traveling in Brazil at age 15, he had an “A-Ha” moment that presaged a career in ID.

2008 Mideast District Student Merit Winner

Rick Hagee’s design career really did start with a napkin sketch.

“I first found myself interested in design when I was about 5 years old,” he recalled. “I would sketch on my mom's napkins, coming up with different inventions, city layouts and even roller coaster designs. She would get frustrated with me because she didn't know if she should save the napkins or throw them out.”

Hagee added, “When I got into my high school years, I began to realize that I loved solving problems as well.”