Caroline Schrader (right) is a sophomore mechatronics student in Dr. Chandra Ward’s Innovations in Honors course. Photo by Angela Foster.
Each weekday around 3 p.m., parents and families from Chattanooga’s Oak Grove neighborhood gather outside East Side Elementary to pick up their children.
What should be a safe and routine part of the day can actually be quite dangerous as cars speed through the residential area.
To address this concern and make the neighborhood safer, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students in Dr. Chandra Ward’s Innovations in Honors course—Innovation Lab I— spent their Monday afternoons installing signage and painting crosswalks to create a more pedestrian-friendly area.
“We have been learning about elements of walkability all semester,” said Ward, a UC Foundation associate professor of sociology. “We are partnering with Community Neighborhood Enterprise to focus on the Oak Grove neighborhood and how to make it more walkable and safe. This semester, we’re implementing small-scale projects ourselves—while next semester we’ll tackle a larger project for the stakeholders.”
The Innovations in Honors program in the Honors College, designed for transfer and current UTC students at the sophomore and junior levels, is a problem-based, community-embedded learning experience that challenges students to develop critical thinking, design thinking, applied creativity and collaborative leadership. A partnership with the city of Chattanooga during the two-semester UTC Honors College Innovation Labs allows the students to work closely with civic leaders to tackle authentic, real-world problems.
Ward explained that the students’ work would not only address physical safety but also social inequality.
“In the last year or so that I’ve been studying walkability, I’ve learned that the negative effects of unwalkable neighborhoods reflect the social inequalities in our society,” she said. “People of color, specifically Black and Indigenous people, have the largest pedestrian death rates compared to their white counterparts.
“We’re in a neighborhood that is largely minority and lower income, which puts residents here at a higher risk.”
Joana Da Silva, a sophomore photography and media art student born in Venezuela—who moved to Atlanta with her family at the age of 12—said that she was passionate about being able to help a predominantly Hispanic community. She explained that some of the signage was written in Spanish to make it more accessible.
Da Silva said she noticed the community already appreciated the work.
“A lot of them have asked what we are doing, then they’re like, ‘Oh my God, thank you,’” she said.
Caroline Schrader, a sophomore mechatronics engineering student from St. Louis, used a large stencil to paint white strips in the street with the help of her classmates. She said her love for design made this project exciting for her.
“I think it’s meaningful just to use what I know and what I’m good at to help benefit a community,” she said. “This is a working-class neighborhood. They shouldn’t have to take their own time out to make their neighborhood feel safe.”
Ward said she understands her students are not urban planners and that they come from different majors and backgrounds.
“It’s really empowering to take charge in your community,” she said. “You don’t necessarily need to wait for the bureaucracy to do the work.”
Learn more
UTC Honors College Innovation Labs
Photo gallery by Angela Foster
Joana Da Silva (right) helps paint and hang signs in the Oak Grove neighborhood.
