“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” That decidedly was not the refrain when teachers, staff, students and administration at Halifax County High School set out on a journey to re-imagine their school.

They weren’t facing glaring problems of practice. Rather, they looked at their 21st century world and asked the question, “How can we better equip our students for life in today’s world?” Then, they used design thinking to collect input from all involved parties and put ideas into action.

In this interview with principal Michael Lewis and Dr. Karen Sanzo from Old Dominion University, we explore what design thinking looks like in the education world, and the exciting outcomes that can result. We talk about building a team, getting teacher buy-in, empathy research and collecting input from students. And we find out what they’ve learned through the process.