Gracie Wood is from Cary, NC, and is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Design Studies with a minor in Psychology. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, backpacking and singing a cappella. Wood sat down with CaSA to share her experience as a member of the 2025 Sustainable Futures Fellows program.

What was your motivation for joining the Sustainable Futures Fellows program?

I’ve always had a passion for the outdoors and for sustainability, but my academic program led me to focus more on branding, graphic, and architectural design. When I heard about some friends forming a team to design pocket parks that would use FEMA plots more sustainably, I got really excited– it was an opportunity where my design skills could be of use, and I could get some more hands-on experience working within the field of sustainability. The experience was incredibly fulfilling, helping me realize how much I enjoy working in sustainability, and my experience with the Sustainable Futures Fellows helped me land another sustainability position with NC State’s Waste Reduction and Recycling. 

How did the program help you apply your design skills?

The program provided me with an awesome opportunity to work with an interdisciplinary team. As we went through the design process for our pocket park, my biology-focused peers researched native plant species while I researched the design and layout of green spaces around Raleigh. This project allowed me to explore the full scope of the design process, with a focus on the design research phase, which is essential but often overlooked. My background in design thinking helped me develop the research, but the Sustainable Futures Fellows provided hands-on experience to put those skills into practice. 

How did you overcome any challenges encountered while developing your project?

One challenge we encountered was our timeline and scope – our group was very ambitious and had the goal of actually breaking ground on our pocket park design. We quickly realized how much time and effort were needed for the planning process, including multiple rounds of community and governmental input with revisions. Given the 16-week scope of the project, we changed our approach to create a proposal for a pocket park that the city could review and implement in the future. That was far more realistic given our time constraints, and I’m still very proud of the depth of planning we achieved. In the future, I think it would be interesting to explore projects that could be passed along to subsequent cohorts of Fellows, allowing them to live longer and have greater long-term effects.  

What advice would you give to fellow design students who are thinking about this program? 

I would encourage everyone to give the Sustainable Futures Fellows a shot! This program taught me that sustainability touches every aspect of our lives, so no matter your major, you can be involved in sustainability. I found that the Sustainable Futures Fellows was an awesome way to gain hands-on experience with real-world problems. Many design students already have transferable skills (such as design thinking and problem solving) that directly apply to the field of sustainability, and there is so much more to be learned from working in a cross-disciplinary environment– you never know where it might take you!

What does sustainability mean to you?

To me, sustainability is an earth-focused and community-focused idea that aims to meet the needs of our current world, while taking a vested interest in our collective future and long-term health as a global society.

This post was originally published in Climate and Sustainability Academy.