Volunteers on the Cusp

Article by Rachel Strubinger

All of us who wander the halls of Portfolio Center are constantly surrounded by our own designs and those of our peers. Sometimes it’s hard for us to see past the annual reports, event posters, and book covers and think about what design, in a more general sense, can do for the world. Next week, however, four of us will be given the opportunity to see out. Recent alums Ross Shapland and myself, along with current students Frank Rauss and Jenn Graham, will be heading to Chicago to volunteer at the Cusp Conference.

If you haven’t heard of it, the Cusp Conference was created to attract all types of innovative and creative thinkers. The goal is to bring together a variety of people to discuss the importance of design in the world. Twenty-two speakers in a two-day period will challenge, provoke, and inspire their audiences. There are a few familiar names that you would hope to see on a “design conference” speaker list, such as John Bielenberg and Dana Arnett. After all, the conference was organized by SamataMason Inc. The rest of the list, however, is full of surprises, ranging from Bryan Anderson, a United States Army Specialist who lost three limbs to a roadside bomb in Baghdad, to Laura Howard, founder of Laloo’s Goats Milk Ice Cream Company, to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But everyone speaking and attending has one thing in common: design has changed their lives.

The website describes the attendees as “the intellectually curious, motivated, energetic, connection-making, passionate and creative kind.” If that doesn’t sum up Portfolio Center students, I don’t know what does. As volunteers at the conference, we will help guests sign in, attend the “conversation room,” and man entrances into the lecture halls. When we aren’t working, we’ll each get to see about half of the speakers. We’re lucky to have the opportunity to volunteer and looking forward to a great time.