The bricks. Red bricks. Held history in their grain, pulled from the industrial past of South Los Angeles, covered in sawdust, reimagined: awards welded with steel to look like the iconic Beehive, embody both strength and regeneration, a tangible reflection of the SoLa Impact Material Science Lab powered by the Howmet Foundation. This space, built on legacy and innovation, invites the hands of young students to shape a future grounded in possibilities.

This transformation found its home at the SoLa Impact/Beehive campus, an innovative hub in South Los Angeles. Within its walls, the SoLa Impact Material Science Lab, powered by the Howmet Foundation, has launched a groundbreaking curriculum on materials science and engineering for product innovation. Designed by USC’s Iovine and Young Academy and delivered under the leadership of Kia McCormick, the curriculum trains students in grades K–12 for careers in integrated technology, design, and product innovation. 

At the core of this curriculum lies Challenge-Based Reflective Learning (CBRL), a pioneering methodology developed under the leadership of the Academy’s faculty, including SeoYoon Sung, Matthew Manos, and Doug Thomas. CBRL immerses students in real-world challenges, blending hands-on prototyping with iterative reflection to foster creativity, deductive and inductive thinking, multidomain collaboration, and purpose-driven innovation. Backed by Verizon’s support the Academy is developing a toolkit that will allow the scaling of CBRL in higher and secondary education. 

When USC Iovine and Young Academy students and alumni, including McCormick, held the weight of the award, in a packed room of scientists, donors, and students grades K-12, her hands became steady, wrapped around the brick’s edges, grounded, her voice alive with emotion.

Kia McCormick alongside Academy Faculty member Grant Delgatty (left) and Academy student Ayonnah Tinsley (right).

“It’s heavy,” she said laughing. A microcosm of the new responsibility she bore, guiding young students who see this space as more than a lab. 

The lab’s grand opening thrummed with an energy close to electric, a rare blend of hope and ambition. Beneath the glow of cool neon lights, rows of 3D printers and stacks of raw materials stretched along walls of exposed brick, like tools in an artist’s studio waiting for hands ready to mold them. 

On the wall, a sign reading “Material Science & Engineering Lab powered by Howmet Aerospace Foundation” glowed in blue, casting its light onto the upturned faces of students, their eyes wide with wonder. Here, dreams met disciplines in a place carved from the grit of industry. Curiosity found a home. Innovation became something tactile, reachable.

High school senior Haley Montano leans over the wood workspace with her little sister Lauren close, “I want to try the laser cutter!” she said bright with excitement. “I want to create miniature figurines and then maybe some skateboards and shoes,” her younger sister added, her own enthusiasm spilling over.

Their words merged with the low hum of brand new machines, filling the room with an unspoken understanding: here, every tool, every material, was a step toward something larger – a prototype, a solution, a vision made real.

Thanassis Rikakis, Dean of the Iovine and Young Academy, took to the front of the room, his voice resonant, confident. He looked out over the crowd with a gaze that seemed to hold the weight of his own belief in these young people. “You don’t start with the basics here,” he said. “You start with the challenges, with the creative things young people want to do. They come here to create – not to memorize.” 

“This lab is about you. It’s about giving Black and Brown students in South LA a chance to step into fields that were once out of reach. The goal here is to serve at least 750 students a year, not to simply expose them to material science but to prepare them for it – not in some distant future, but now.” said Daniel Rosove, Senior Director of Partnerships at SoLa Impact. His words resonated deeply; this was about agency, about inviting students to not just learn but belong, to see this space as a doorway they deserved to walk through.

Then, Rosove asked the Bossi family to the front of the room. World-renowned artist Bossi and her husband, entrepreneur Nico Bossi, embraced Rosove. “Much more work to be done,” they said, nodding toward a mural on the wall. Blasted, bold letters read, “If you can see it, you can be it.”

“When I was a kid, I had access to music and art because I was surrounded by it. I had a babysitter that was an outstanding musician. That access made me a musician, an artist,” said Bossi. “Sparking a young person's curiosity creates ripple effects you can’t even imagine. If a child can’t see what’s possible, those futures vanish. But a space like this opens up a world of possibilities we’re only beginning to see.” 

“And it’s not enough to tell a kid, ‘You can be anything.’ Without resources, those words are empty. You can show them role models on TV, but when you bring that world into their backyard, when they can reach out and touch it – that’s when it starts to feel real,” added her husband. 

The impact of this lab extends beyond walls and machines; it draws strength from collaborations that defied convention.

“Young people have superpowers. Why waste them? Why not channel that energy into learning, into the workforce, without forcing them through a 250-year-old system that doesn’t fit?” said Dean Rikakis. “The academy exists to unlock that potential, to connect creativity with real-world skills. A home run is seeing these students dive into this space, growing into the workforce, into college, ready to redefine technology, design, business. We meet them where they are, fuel their ambition, and watch them soar.” 

Each partnership had strengthened this foundation, none more so than the involvement of Verizon.

“There was one moment, and that's when USC connected Verizon to the project. Verizon, obviously, telecom giant has interest too in how to train the future STEM workforce, and is partnering with [the Academy] to figure out how to do it,” said Daniel Rosove. “The fact that we could plug in and help power that engine was deeply exciting, and I think, solidified for us the catalytic effect that this lab is going to have.”

In every corner of the room, inspiration was tangible. "We’re figuring out what we want to do by doing, and it’s so, so cool,” said the Montano sisters, their excitement echoing the unrestrained potential of a space built to elevate, not limit.

“When I tell people what I am doing here at SoLa, they say ‘oh wow that is kinda cool,’” said McCormick, “a few months ago this was just tables and paper sketches, and now my biggest goal is to make sure everyone has fun! You can make anything here yourself and have a blast doing it.”

Brick by Brick, Young Students Literally Build Their Own Futures

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