Like many other students, this spring semester began with many unforeseen adjustments. Professor Kenn Compton tasked his Design 4 students to take on a capstone project with one mission: to have a positive impact on changing the world. A dedicated class of 8 advertising and graphic design students began researching and landed on mental health as an area of opportunity to make this positive impact.

The original project objective was to develop mental health break rooms on campus to provide relief for students who found themselves overwhelmed during the day. These mental break rooms would incorporate useful resources designed by the class, including coping techniques corresponding with different illnesses to assist students in need. As Central Piedmont shifted to a new learn-at-home environment, the project scope also required a shift.

Team Project Manager, Georgina Burton shared “We need to be here to encourage people to keep fighting and to get stronger, because they will get stronger.”  Despite the unexpected and ambiguous circumstances brought on by COVID-19, Georgina and her classmates were not deterred from providing a solution to such a vitally important issue – arguably even more important in light of current circumstances.

The class decided to create the same mental health safe spaces online and launched a creative digital campaign on Instagram called Innerpeas2020. Sylvia Bowie, counselor on Harper campus, assisted with providing reliable statistics and resources to help shape their content, and the team leveraged their design skills to create the mental health campaign, which launched on April 8. They have now embarked on a 30-day campaign providing useful resources to students, staff, and the entire Central Piedmont community.