Santa Maria de Ostuma Farm, Matagalpa, Nicaragua
July 21st, 2011

One of the Pratt IDSA Stu­dent Chapter’s impor­tant objec­tives is to intro­duce stu­dents to ways in which they can become involved and chal­lenged with real world expe­ri­ences and appli­ca­tions. This year our IDSA Stu­dent Chap­ter and Pratt’s Cen­ter for Sus­tain­abil­ity co-sponsored a Research Project and Field Trip to Santa Maria de Ostuma, located in Mata­galpa, Nicaragua.

A group of 11 Pratt Indus­trial Design stu­dents, led by Adjunct Pro­fes­sor Karen Stone, engaged in research and study of the social and cul­tural char­ac­ter­is­tics of the Sta Maria de Ostuma com­mu­nity. Stu­dents had the oppor­tu­nity to explore a dif­fer­ent nat­ural envi­ron­ment, gain knowl­edge of a dis­tinc­tive cul­ture, and study the prac­tices of a work­ing com­mu­nity, gain­ing a broad view of life in another part of the world.

The over­all objec­tive was for stu­dents to learn about the rela­tion­ship between the socio eco­nomic and cul­tural aspects of Sta Maria de Ostuma, and find ways in which they can con­tribute, as good cit­i­zens of the world, to help­ing improve the qual­ity of life and the envi­ron­ment, through good design solutions.

Karen Stone from Pratt CSDS on Vimeo.