Center for Digital Expression

PIP Talks

What are PIP Talks?PIP talks logo

PIP stands for “Partners in Purple” and refers to the ongoing collaboration between Paschal High School and Texas Christian University.  The natural extension of the formal partnership between the university and the school, PIP provides students at both places an opportunity to interact and to learn from each other.  PIP Talks are the culmination of a multi-month process of collaboration and mentoring as students research and prepare their presentation topics.

PIP Talks came out of a very simple idea.  We wanted to provide students with a bigger stage for their projects.

High school students give in-class presentations about research projects on a regular basis, but their audience is usually only their classmates and their teacher.  How could we bring these presentations to a larger audience, an interested audience, one that wasn’t simply waiting their turn to present?  And could we use the excitement that this generated to motivate kids at all levels to become passionate about learning?

On a Saturday afternoon in April, late in the school year, 184 kids showed up at Paschal along with many faculty members, parents, TCU faculty and student judges.  We filled 8 classrooms all afternoon as students presented on topics ranging from gun violence to data security to the importance of music education in schools.  Some students made documentaries, some gave talks, some worked alone, others in groups.  Some of the presentations were jaw-dropping.  Students had bought in to this idea and, through mentoring and workshops at TCU and at PHS, had gone beyond what we expected, far past what we saw in our classes.