Building Back Better: Educational Transformation in Puerto Rico  

Young Filmmakers in Puerto Rico Showcase Changes to Public Education  

Bayamón, Puerto Rico. November 2019. Two years after the devastating Hurricanes Irma and Maria altered the history of Puerto Rico, a team of students have produced a new 4-minute video showcasing their desired changes to public education. Please view the videos above.

The young filmmakers made the 4-minute video through a course on digital storytelling offered at their school, Escuela Especializada Francisco Manrique Cabrera. Located 30 minutes from the capital of San Juan, Escuela Esp. FMC is on a quest to become the first public school in the United States & Territories to implement Design Thinking at all levels of programming. Design Thinking (human-centered problem solving) can be used in disaster-hit areas to accelerate learning and recovery, and to develop effective solutions to community issues such as climate resiliency.

The video is a partnership between two communities: Design Ed 4 Resilience and docutribe®. Students shot, edited, translated, and composed the music for their video. Patrick J. Lynch, Social Impact Producer with docutribe®, and Puerto Rican Filmmaker Margaret Mair with Design Ed 4 Resilience, trained students as independent filmmakers during a two-week course.

Deborah Waughtal and Jacob Chu also worked on video production through docutribe®. The course was developed under the auspices of the Puerto Rico Department of Education, El Pueblo Unido Program, and Escuela Esp. FMC. The project, Building Back Better: Educational Transformation in Puerto Rico, aims to build media capacity and training for students so they can change their world.

Imagine what would happen if these students had more knowledge, skills and resources to meet the greatest challenges of thier time? How would it transform them and their families? How would they change their state of education? 

Please join our community in supporting the students to use film to help transform their education, to expand their network of mentors and collaborative partners island wide, and to bring to life their innovative solutions to address the challenges their communities face.

Donate

Please join our community to support the students in using film to help transform their education, to expand their network of mentors and collaborative partners island wide, and to bring their innovative solutions to the challenges their communities face to life.

*connect students to professional filmmaking support and instruction to create a lift and strong foundation of media and storytelling skills,

*support a growing network of school, university and community educators using design thinking to fortify mental health and creative confidence, and to engage students deeply in academic content, civic leadership, and entrepreneurship,

*create opportunities for academic leaders, educators and students to connect around relevant, authentic curriculum and professional development which will help young people prepare for a changed world.

Donate Today

Your support of the Building Back Better Puerto Rico Design Thinking Project provides the valued resources we depend on to continue our work in for relevant and authentic change in educational opportunity and innovative solutions.  With your help, Puerto Rico can become a voice to the world of transformation and resilience.

Note: Suggested donation amounts include a convenience fee which goes directly to online donation service, Stripe, as a processing fee.

Thank you for your support.

Maggie Favretti, Design Ed 4 Resilience Founder and docutribe® Fellow


Maggie Picture.png

Maggie Favretti
Design Ed 4 Resilience Founder, docutribe® Fellow

After graduating from Yale (BA '85 and Middlebury MA '94) Maggie built a foundation of 33 years of award-winning experience teaching young people and colleagues and building bridges between historical and pedagogical scholarship.  She designs curricula, shared learning community spaces and community partnership programs focused on learning with purpose and student agency, practicing much-needed essential mindsets & skills and deepening content knowledge.  

 By shifting the education paradigm from conquering tests to conquering our community’s challenges, we can bake meaning and joy back into learning, build on students’ creativity, network the changemakers, and give young people the tools to create their future.

Maggie has been working to build resilience in Puerto Rico since October 2017 in two ways:

Directly and indirectly with schools (and their supporting agencies), and directly and indirectly with community leaders and centers.  www.designEd4resilience.org


Esc. Francisco Manrique Cabrera

Esc. Francisco Manrique Cabrera is the first design thinking public high school in Puerto Rico.  El Pueblo Unido helps them with mentoring in design thinking, coaching teachers and students.   


Patrick Lynch
Social Impact Producer, Filmmaker, editor  

Patrick is an attorney, nonprofit manager and filmmaker. He spent the last decade working with nonprofits and coalitions to effect social change in the U.S. and Latin America. In 2019 he co-produced his first documentary, Rio Sagrado, following an expedition organized with colleagues in Chile and backed by National Geographic. At Harvard, Patrick is a Louis Bacon Environmental Leadership Fellow and Communications Specialist for Harvard Kennedy School's Arctic Initiative.