Design Camp Turned 45!

In 2025 we celebrated 45 amazing years of Design Camp at NC State’s College of Design! Since 1980, Design Camp has sparked creativity and shaped the dreams of thousands of young designers. While we had to hit pause on our big 40th anniversary celebration in 2020 (thanks, COVID), we made up for it in summer 2025!

As we continue to commemorate this milestone we are still gathering stories from alumni and staff who have helped make Design Camp what it is today. Click the link below the slideshow to share your story.

And check out our 45th Anniversary Booklet, which highlights the history and heart of Design Camp through reflections from past participants, archival images, and more.

Thanks for joining us as we look back, reconnect, and plan special reunion activities!

1980-2024 Slideshow

If you have been a part of Design Camp, we want you to tell us your story! (click here)

Design Camp history

Professor Charles Joyner was excited about introducing minority students to the potential of design education.

Share your story

If you have been a part of Design Camp over the years, we want you to tell us your story!

Give to the Design Lab

Did you know that all programs at the Design Lab are funded through registration fees and external gifts?

Stories from Design Lab + Design Camp

The K-12 Digital Design Lab: Thriving Through Adaptation

Check out this article from 2021 to learn more about how the Design Lab adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic. As all good designers do, the Design Lab approached this design problem and considered their users, the context, their limitations, and their resources to come up with an innovative solution to deliver digital design experiences.

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Hal Meeks Leads Students to Explore Animation Through Design Camp

For as long as Hal Meeks can recall, he’s had a passion to tinker. Hal has been teaching at Design Camp and in our Design Lab programs since 2008! Check out this article from 2019 and meet Hal.

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Aspiring Designers Share a Dream

The Marvin and Cindy Malecha Dream Scholarship is intended to assist K-12 students who want to experience Design Camp but might not be able to afford it. Students recipients arrive with the confidence of knowing that NC State Design believe in their talents. Check out this story about our Malecha Dream Scholarship recipients from 2017.

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Teaching the Future of Design

Design thinking doesn’t start the moment students step onto a college campus their freshman year. Check out this article from the College of Design’s Designlife Magazine, Fall 2015.

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