Tags for Talking: About Us

Design to Make a Difference

   Our projects are the culmination of a design program called Design to Make a Difference (D2MD). D2MD challenges students to design a product which fufills the theme of "health," "wellness," or "sustainability." Our team decided to focus on "health and wellness"; more specifically, we wanted to focus on the topic of mental health. We know that mental health can sometimes be a touchy subject, but we wanted to contribute to the destigmatization of mental health while creating a community which speaks openly about mental illness. To that end, we developed our bracelet tags and our website, which will be showcased at the 2018-2019 Design to Make a Difference event.

Design to Make a Difference Competition

   The Plum Senior High School Team won the 2019 Design to Make a Difference Grand Prize, along with first place in the Growth, Most Impactful, Engaging Pitch, and Display categories, and second place for Research. Amazing job to everyone on the team!

Our Team

Jonah

Jonah Albert

Website Designer

Jonah Albert is part of the Class of 2019 at Plum High School. He first came up with the idea of Tags for Talking because of his passion for helping others. Jonah loves computer science, and is going to Penn State to pursue a degree in Cybersecurity.

Kacie

Kacie Persia

Website Designer

Kacie Persia is part of the Class of 2020 at Plum High School. She is a programmer for the Tags for Talking website, and her passion for computer science led her to learn HTML and CSS for Design to Make a Difference. Kacie plans on finishing her high school career with a focus on computer science.

Elsa

Elsa van Beek

Writer and Researcher

Elsa van Beek is part of the Class of 2019 at Plum High School. She has had a passion for reading and writing her whole life, and as a freshman, she joined the library helper program at her high school. For this project, Elsa’s job contribution was writing and developing ideas.

Natalee

Natalee Calfo-Carroll

Bracelet Tag Designer

Natalee Calfo-Carroll is part of the Class of 2020 at Plum High School. Her experience in CAD design and 3D printing allowed her to contribute to the creation of the bracelet tag. Natalee would like to thank D2MD for allowing this team to take part in such an educational and altruistic project!

Plum High School

   The four members of our team attend Plum Senior High School. We want to thank Plum Borough for giving us access to their facilities to work on our projects and support for us to attend the D2MD showcase. We would also like to thank our sponsors, Mrs. Romanelli and Mr. Lauletta, for involving us in D2MD and encouraging the creation of our projects. Finally, a big thanks to D2MD who provided us wtih a 3D printer, which enabled us to design our bracelets. Thanks to everyone who supported us!