Good product designs meet two criteria -- they serve a need that makes life better and are easy to use. Alumna Arna Ionescu, class of '92, relayed this and more to middle school students when she spoke at an assembly in January. With a career in design, currently working at Proteus Biomedical, her current project is to help determine how people could best use a cutting-edge technology that enables a pill -- once swallowed -- to communicate with one's cell phone. During her talk, Arna also told students she would not have embarked on a design career without her Nueva education, as it provided her with some vital experiences such as collaborating with classmates.

"You get to be technical and creative," she said about Nueva. "In a lot of places you are either technical or creative. Nueva is so special because you have both."

Before explaining how Nueva bolstered her future, Arna captivated students by presenting good and bad product designs. Initially, she pointed out that each human-made object around us is designed, and that it took a team of people working together to conceive of it. She then showed samples of how designs serve a need. For example, she explained that creators of juice boxes considered that kids (with smaller hands than adults) often spill when pouring large juice cartons. Another example she used to illustrate effective design featured an upright, squeezable toothpaste container created as a successor to the messier conventional tube of toothpaste. Arna also expressed to students that design tackles some of humanity's most significant predicaments.

"Designers can challenge some really big problems, like health care, obesity, poverty," she said at the close of her talk.

Arna's visit exemplifies how Nueva alumni reach out to inspire and be inspired by our students. Contact Carrie Hermann, director of alumni and grandparent relations, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to discuss ways to get involved with Nueva.