Show and Tell - Sharing Our Vision

This week , our team had the opportunity to present When We Come Together during the Show and Tell event at the University of Waterloo Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business. The event invited guests, faculty, and community partners to explore student projects being considered for inclusion in this year's Lights On Stratford Festival.

Throughout the day, visitors moved through the space to experience each team's concept and creative process. Our team was proud to share the story behind When We Come Together - a project inspired by the Thirteen Grandmother Moons and built around themes of reflection, connection, and renewal.

Among these attendees were two special guests: Zac Gribble, the Director of the Lights On Stratford Festival, and Patsy Day, a Turtle Clan member from the Oneida Nation. Pasty Day is an Indigenous educator, artist, and advocate whose work focuses on Haudenosaunee culture, language, and storytelling. With a background in Indigenous curriculum development and community teaching, she brings deep cultural knowledge and experience in sharing traditional teachings with contemporary learners.

For this course, Professor David Han invited Patsy Day to teach our class about the Thirteen Grandmother Moons, which became the foundation and inspiration for all the projects presented at the event. During the showcase Pasty visited our booth, taking time to discuss the cultural significance of our project and to share insights that deepened our understanding of the teachings behind it.

Later, Zac Gribble and Professor Han walked through the booths together, offering practical feedback on project feasibility, design, and how each concept could be adapted for the upcoming Lights On Stratford Festival. Their thoughtful advice gave our team new perspectives on how to strengthen both the technical and conceptual aspects of our work.

We left the event feeling inspired, supported, and motivated to keep refining our installation. The experience was no only an opportunity to present our progress but also meaningful exchange of ideas that reminded us why When We Come Together is rooted in community, learning, and shared reflection.