The Bubble Lounge (Highland Park & University Park Texas)
The Bubble Lounge Podcast is hosted by Martha Jackson and is the leading hyper-local podcast covering Highland Park and University Park, Texas. With more than 350 episodes and over 190,000 listens, the show has become a trusted voice connecting the Park Cities community.
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The Bubble Lounge (Highland Park & University Park Texas)
Highland Park MAPS Program: Where Ideas, Collaboration, and Curiosity Meet
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Thinking bigger sometimes means learning differently—and that’s exactly what this episode captures. I sat down with MAPS students from Highland Park High School, Natalie Denton, Ryan Moore and Rohan Portteus, to talk about what really happens inside the program. Collaboration, creativity, problem-solving, and learning skills that actually translate beyond the classroom. Hearing students describe MAPS in their own words is a powerful reminder that when kids are given ownership of their learning, incredible things happen.
They had also just returned from hearing a guest speaker, which sparked a great conversation about the value of real-world voices, taking risks, and imagining what’s possible after high school. If you’re a parent of a current or future HPHS student—or a student curious about doing school a little differently—this episode is a must-listen.
MAPS applications are due January 19, so now is the perfect time to learn more and hear directly from the students living the experience.
To learn more about the MAPS program and to apply click here
This episode is supported by: Scholastic Success
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Welcome And MAPS Overview
SPEAKER_05Welcome to the Bubble Lounge. Today I'm at Highland Park High School visiting with Dr. Orsack of the MAPS program. The MAPS program is near and dear to my heart because my son has been in it this year, and I just can't tell you the difference that it's made for him. He's learned so much, so much more confidence, and I just I'm a big fan. Well, Dr. Orsac, could you just walk us through what exactly the MAPS program is?
SPEAKER_00Well, first of all, great to see you. Last time we talked, we were over in a studio, and today here we are.
SPEAKER_05You came to me last time. I came to you.
SPEAKER_00Right in the middle of the MAPS program, and we've got classes going on as we speak.
Six Focus Areas And Teaching Approach
SPEAKER_00So uh we offer a special program for um Highland Park juniors and seniors, and it covers six different areas of focus uh that we think that kids really will benefit from and are interested in. And some of those are immediately obvious that kids would be excited about sports analytics. We have more students interested in taking that class than we can possibly handle. We have a course in business and entrepreneurship, and it's the same way. I mean, it's just such an exciting class, and students are just so thrilled to be able to go through all the activities and exercises. But we also have awesome courses having to do with the media and the influence of the media in their lives, and of course, they live with that every day. Brain science and its impact on their lives today and their lives in the future, architecture and the environment, which is just uh incredible. The projects they work on are just jaw-dropping. Engineering design, where almost anything goes on any week, we could be working on all kinds of projects. Uh so the students never really know what they're going to get in all these, but it's a very intensive project-based environment that we work in. Um, and kids are primarily working in teams, and so they grow from that experience. And anybody, if you're listening and it's been in a work environment where teams are a big part of your workspace, you know that it helps a lot when the team runs smoothly, and but it can be a challenge establishing that. And so we work closely with these kids so they can learn how to actually deal with the you know the ups and downs of teamwork. And so
Space Tour And Learning Environments
SPEAKER_00um every day it's just I mean, it's just a new day here. And uh we have we had 200 speakers last year that come up here and talk to our students, and we just had one a few minutes ago that discussed the use of improv techniques on improving your ability to present your ideas, and it was just fantastic. I mean, the kids were just loving it, and there's so much humor in it. And so we had about 200 of our students um skip lunch to come to come see this uh speaker. Fantastic. So I'm just glad you're here and we can show you around.
SPEAKER_05And well, I have a feeling a lot of people out there have not made it to the third floor to come see the maps area. And guys, it is really something. So will you show us around?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Let's take a look around. Well, uh we're this is our entrance where we got a big map sign. And um the first thing you can see as we kind of weave over in this direction is that it really just doesn't look like a normal high school space or classroom. But this space right behind us uh is space that we use all the time to teach. And while it kind of looks like a lounge area, uh you know, when we need space for students to kind of work in a group environment and to be uh relaxed and brainstorm, then this is where we send them. It is, you know, during class periods, it's full all the time. So we try to get them out of their chairs as often as possible and put them in kind of uh highly designed environments. Um this is kind of an interesting little project just because it just happened yesterday, but um uh one of the elementary schools, kindergarten, came over and worked with some of our students on a joint project together, and they had seen a movie in our digitarium downstairs, and they came up and worked on uh space projects. So while this may not look like a space project to you, to a kindergarten, this is just right out of their space dreams dreamscape. This is so yeah, so pretty cool stuff. So it we don't have just 10 yeah um 11th and 12th grade students, we've got students of
Architecture Projects And CASA Playhouse
SPEAKER_00all ages.
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SPEAKER_00And I want to bring you into our architecture room because we do a lot of amazing projects. And there's our uh our most famous architecture instructor uh at High Tower. And uh so one of the projects, I'll just focus on one that that we do each year and we'll walk over to this corner because many of your listeners probably get a chance to see this in North Park Center.
SPEAKER_02The Casa House.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the Casa House. So we're the uh all the Casa Houses other than ours are designed and created by professional m architecture firms or construction firms. And so uh and they do an amazing job, but uh we kind of take a special approach to participating in this. So there's a competition for a selection of an HP or UP historic home that we will use as the base model for the Casa Playhouse, and then there'll be teams of students that will then take that home. So here's an example for the Muzon House. I know that this is one of the oldest historic homes in University Parks.
SPEAKER_05I know that one.
SPEAKER_00This classic colonial in style. And so this is too big to kind of shrink down into a playhouse, but we give it to the kids as inspiration, and then they will then turn that into an actual playhouse and then go off and build it. And so it ends up looking something like this, which is inspired by the historic house. And these are just always super popular projects for our students and really, really uh popular when they go into the North Park Center. Fantastic. So you can see the past elements. We always put a little historic marker on the house, uh, which goes back to a website that we maintain here, even though people think it's somehow going to take them to some you know, his Texas historic uh website. But these are fantastic and they go in, you know, obviously go in people's backyards and uh are there for their children to
Squirrel-Proof Feeder And Engineering Design
SPEAKER_00enjoy. I gotta show you this because this is just kind of one of these funny projects that we decided to take on in engineering. Uh, there are a lot of videos online about squirrels and just how smart and clever squirrels are. So we decided to try to produce a bird feeder that was 100% squirrel-proof, not 99% squirrel-proof. I know you can go by uh bird feeders that say they're 100% squirrel-proof, but really uh when they're tested against the smartest squirrels out there, they almost always fail. So our students knew they had to bring everything they had with them. And they worked with the architecture students, so you can see there's an architectural design. As an example, what we're looking at right here is the rotunda from UVA as a bird feeder that is in theory supposed to prevent a squirrel from getting into it. And they all have different technologies, it's not just the design itself that prevents the squirrels to come in, but they have different technologies that uh are supposed to prevent the squirrel from come from coming in. And this one that we just walked by has a water sprayer, so if the squirrel gets anywhere near the front, it gets a blast and the squirrel goes flying off. So that um we try to allow these kids to be as creative as we can they can possibly be right now of our business design and leadership course, and we're looking at a project that they recently completed, which allows them to research potential colleges and majors that our students might be visiting. So you've got SMU and UT Austin, uh uh Penn State, University of Miami, uh, NYU, etc. And they were given just a small amount of terrain to kind of produce like a brochure. So they had to put themselves in the position of a of somebody that worked at the university and extract the best information they thought that a 17 or 18-year-old would want to see and make a make a brochure out of it, but that would provide immediate information that
3D Printing Capabilities And Materials
SPEAKER_00would help them understand, help them learn whether this would be a good class. I mean, this would be a good university for them. Uh room, and we'll just focus here. So these kids are involved in building and designing almost anything on any given day. Uh they also have a they have a um uh design studio that's on the other side of the hallway, but I'll just show you the classroom. Everything that they do has a build component, so they don't just design things on paper. They eventually have to make it and test it against the real world. Right. So that's kind of fun. And so these are the 3D printers that we use. So these are kind of the best in class so that the kids um don't complain that, oh gosh, I know there's a better one out there someplace else. Usually when it's full of students, super high energy, and always fun to just go up and ask the kids, like, hey, what are you working on and explain it to us.
SPEAKER_05You were just talking about having the best of the best with your 3D printers, and these look even more interesting than the ones you showed us earlier. Tell us about these.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so uh these allow us to print in all kinds of different materials. Uh so for example, we can actually print a part out of wood.
SPEAKER_05Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_00Which we normally don't think of. Um, you know, you normally think of it being printed out of some kind of plastic. Resin. Being able to uh print out of uh such a wide variety of materials allows them when they build finally build their device to be able to use almost any kind of material where it's appropriate on that device. So uh super lucky to be able to have these.
Student Introductions And Core Skills
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SPEAKER_06I'm Natalie Denton, I'm a junior, and I would describe maps as collaborative.
SPEAKER_03I'm Ron Portius, I'm a senior, and I would describe maps as growth.
SPEAKER_01I'm Ryan Moore, I'm a senior, I'd describe maps as awesome.
SPEAKER_05Well, if you were talking to a friend in the hallway and they asked you to describe the maps program in 10 seconds, how would you describe the program?
SPEAKER_03I would say it's a place where students come to learn they're all accepted in this program, and we're all here under different focus areas to hone our executive functioning skills and our professional skills and learn how to present and talk to adults.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I'd agree with that. The biggest thing that you learn here is how to present, how to get up and talk to people, and you know, how to present yourself really compared. That's the biggest thing we talked about last night at the informational session, is the growth that everyone experiences in here.
SPEAKER_06I agree with all of them. I would say it really does give real-world examples. You're talking to people, you're presenting a lot, just very collaborative, like in the business world. Like I'm in the business class, it's just kind of just preparing you for what you can expect to be and see in the future if you follow that path.
SPEAKER_05You need those skills no matter what you do in life. There's always opportunities for you to stand in front of people and present and that type of thing. So, what has surprised you the most since you've been in the maps program?
SPEAKER_06I didn't realize how much group work it is, but you do really get to work with groups and it's just really entertaining and just interesting to hear everyone's ideas because everyone has different opinions and what they think would go best for the group. But I would say getting to do a lot of teamwork has been super fun.
SPEAKER_03I would say that one of my main things has been letting go of control and group projects and learning to like let myself not do everything or let go of some parts of the project. And it maps has allowed me to really learn what parts I don't need to do and learn how to collaborate really better.
SPEAKER_01I'd say like looking back from at the end of the year, looking back where we started, especially for me last year in the business class, is you know, the beginning of the year, they're like, All right, you got to go do your first presentation, and you've been in the class for a week and you're scared to death to do it. But by the end of the uh by the end of the year, you're up there in front of multiple classes do it presenting your Scotch tank idea that you've been working on for months, and you've got, you know, four times as many people looking at you, you got to present for five or ten minutes, and you're really not that scared to do it.
SPEAKER_05So they really just throw you in after a week of school, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Oh wow. Well, Ryan,
Teamwork, Iteration, And Confidence Growth
SPEAKER_05what made you decide to join the maps program?
SPEAKER_01Uh I'd been I'd seen it like in eighth grade, and I had one of my best friends, Truman, had done his Scotch tank candy project and was able to turn it into a company. I was like, oh, that seems kind of cool. And so I came to one of the informational sessions and I ended up getting into business and in the media class, and I really loved it. So I did it again this year to do sports analytics.
SPEAKER_02How is maps different than the traditional classroom?
SPEAKER_03I would say in a map setting, people are very um motivated. They all come here, they're apply, they apply to get in. And so everyone here wants to be here. And that means that like people are collaborating more effectively. They're not maps. I feel like people are ultimately coming back to like collaborate and work together to solve different problems. Right. And so, like in every different in each class, I feel like they work together and kind of foster this almost group environment.
SPEAKER_05Natalie, what do you feel skills that you're learning in here that you can't get anywhere else?
SPEAKER_06I would say I'm learning how to become a better speaker and just talking with people or talking to peers. I learn how to effectively communicate. Communication is huge in maps, and I think communication is just a really big skill you have to have in life. And I just I would say I'm learning a lot of communication with my peers, my teachers, everyone else in maps, and I feel like that's really helpful in the future.
SPEAKER_05Well, do you feel like being in the program has changed your perception about school, jobs, your future?
SPEAKER_06It's definitely giving me a different perspective on what to expect in the future, more so as um just talking more. I guess I didn't realize how much you do get to talk and just how much hard work you have to put into doing things and getting your point across. But I think this definitely has prepared me for something I can expect to see in the future.
SPEAKER_05Well, Rowan, what is the misconception that people outside of maps have of the program?
SPEAKER_03I would say a misconception is that everybody here is super professional. They know what they're doing already. People come in here and like they don't have the skills, and Miss McKeith and Dr. Orzak and our teachers, they all teach us that. So you don't need to come here knowing how to do architecture or business. They'll teach you all those skills already throughout the process of the year.
SPEAKER_05I want to hear more about the collaboration part of this. How has collaborating with your peers been?
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, you go in at the beginning of the year and you know two or three people in your class, maybe. And then, you know, by the end of the year, we've at first you maybe you get to choose who you're in a group with for your first project, and you get some friends together to do it. But then after that, they say, all right, we're putting you guys in groups, and then you have to learn to talk to different people and meet all these new people that you're gonna be in class with all year. But then by the end of the year, you're all best friends, and we all hang out outside of school, and it's just a big a lot of growth with working with other people and teamwork and being able to delegate what you're doing to different people.
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Improv Workshop And Communication
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SPEAKER_01Like Rowan said, there's a lot of it's a lot of good people up here that want to be here. So you don't run into the issue of, you know, well, this person's not pulling their weight, or this person's trying to do everything and be a dictator. It's everybody works really well together and does their part and is able to get along and do it and have a better outcome than any other places that you'd be trying to do group work with those issues.
SPEAKER_05Well, Rowan, what is an assignment that you've had in the program that really pushed you outside of your comfort levels?
SPEAKER_03Okay, there's a few, but one that I can think of. My most recent one has been we're making a squirrel proof bird feeder. Oh. And it basically has to deter squirrels in a way that does not harm the squirrels and keeps. Them safe. Um, and that one I think it was challenging because we had to iterate it so many times. And I was an architecture last year, so I'm familiar with that drawing, you know, kind of some online work, but doing like 3D printing is really not my strength. And so getting to do that in engineering, I've learned a lot about fusion, the program that we're using, and how you have to keep perfecting your design over and over again because when the final product comes out, like you keep up, you can't re keep reprinting basically. And we were wasting a lot of filament reprinting because we didn't know that, like, if you mess it up by like literally a millimeter, then like it's done.
SPEAKER_05I want to hear more about your speaker today. You had Amanda Austin, and she sounded quite fascinating. It sounds like she had you guys do some very interesting exercises.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So Amanda Austin, she used to run a um comedy improv club in Deep Elum, and she works at SMU now, she's on their faculty, and she basically came in to talk to us about what makes people laugh and what's actually funny. And then with that, I think what was the second part?
SPEAKER_06It was a lot of collaboration. So we did like um the yes and portion. So she was kind of saying that like everything you do is kind of what we do up here in maps. Nothing is a bad idea. Everyone has different ideas, everyone has different opinions. So she was just kind of teaching
Real-World Speakers And Opportunities
SPEAKER_06us through that with improv how someone might say something and you might not agree with it, but it's an idea and you can build on it. So she had us do that with some of the people that were sitting around us. Like she gave us an example that if we were um what what our conversation would be, I think, if we were on Mount Everest at night and what like what we would tell our story to tell to our friends, how would that go? Or like if there's a burning building and we had to save 10 kittens, we'd have to explain that to people around us and just go with that. That sounds complicated, but very fascinating. Yes, very fascinating.
SPEAKER_05Okay, let's go back to the squirrel feeder for a minute. I want to hear all about this.
SPEAKER_03This design is not what we intended to make originally. So the mechanism is that it spins like this when a squirrel gets on it. But if a bird were to get on it, then it would not move too much and they could get in it. But the issue is that we made our design anti-bird and anti-squirrel proof. So nothing really wanted to get in it when we tested it in the field. We had, let's see, I think we had three days to test, and we found that not even a bird came near it. They were almost scared to go it near it. Maybe it's because of color, maybe because of the design, but ultimately it failed. But the best part of the project and why we still got a good a good grade was because we were working so much through different designs. And like we had, I think, five final completed designs that never got made, but that got us to this final design. So it's showing that process and those steps along the way that what they wanted to see up here. You guys do projects like this quite a bit, right? Yeah, I would say so. I feel like last year in architecture, they're a lot more hands-on, like we did a ranger station, where it's like they have to make a forest station in a national forest. Oh, wow. And so last they had someone come this year that was designs them in the real in the actual field. And then you have to work with the partner and a group of four people to make a topography map of that elevation in your forest, pick a spot for it, and then address three uses that your station is gonna do for like example, visitor station, fire rescue, all these different things. And then you present it to a panel of architects. Oh, wow. And you have a design, sketches, um, like I guess
ULI Competition Win And Urban Planning
SPEAKER_03what your vibe of the project is gonna be, and then you have an actual model that we make.
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SPEAKER_01Well, it was interesting to see how really anyone could get up there and do improv and it wasn't just like completely awkward, and she was able to keep everybody entertained and laughing the whole time doing it.
SPEAKER_05What did what was your suggestion on uh rescuing the kittens from the burning building?
SPEAKER_01I didn't have a suggestion. I was helping run the building.
SPEAKER_05Well, that sounds like a really interesting one. If you could ask her one follow-up question, what would it be?
SPEAKER_01I'd want to know, I want to know more about how she got into it. Yeah. You said you owned a comedy club for 20-something new years. I want to know more about that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So how important is it to you, Ryan, to hear from real professionals? I know you guys have speakers just constantly in here.
SPEAKER_01Oh, it's been awesome. I've been able to be, you know, in a many different speakers' uh presentations, and it's been interesting. Like some of them I follow up with, like JD's Chippery, I do all their photos now. So I was taking this for her last night. Or John Park came from the Cowboys, and a few of us took a photo with him, and it's
Applying To MAPS And Interview Process
SPEAKER_01all over his Instagram now or whatever, and he's sending us stuff. Or like I ran into Roger Sealy the other day at Target. So it's been interesting to see like you see all of the speakers outside of here also after you, you know, you start picking up on seeing them after you've seen them in here.
SPEAKER_05Natalie, does hearing the speakers and maps make it feel more real? Like you're hearing from so many business owners and people that have done amazing things.
SPEAKER_06Oh, yes, definitely. So we have speakers up here pretty frequently. We had one today, we had one last week. We get them all the time. So just hearing their perspectives, like for business, we have a lot of speakers come in that correlate with the projects we're doing. So, for example, in the beginning of the year, we did a lemonade stand project and we had it was kind of like an entrepreneurship thing. And we had Trey Bowles come in and he just explained to us what it's like to be an entrepreneurship and just strategies and ways that we can succeed our best. So I definitely would say it's really real world examples because these are people who do these for their everyday jobs, and it's just, I would say it's very interesting to hear what their perspectives on like the real world example of it, because we can just pretend in here and act like it's something we're actually doing, but these people actually do this every day in their life. So yeah, I think the speakers are very beneficial.
SPEAKER_05Rowan, I heard that you won a very prestigious award not too long ago.
SPEAKER_03Yes. So that was through the Urban Land Institute, and we competed actually in this very room in June. And so this is called the Urban Land Institute Youth Competition, and it was for urban planning. And so we did this project in class, and it was we had six weeks and we worked with architects and we had people from the actual organization come in, and it's basically to take an old city and redesign it and make it a new district for some purpose, and work with budgeting and a team of five people. And so we have a site planner, which is my job, a financial analyst, uh, a neighborhood liaison, a marketing director, and there's one other that I oh, environmental and equity direct director. And so they all work together to make a proposal and a plan to present to a city council. And then that city council votes on the best one, and then you win the project or the proposal. And so we did this in class in our group one, and then we were approached with an opportunity to go to the national level. And this would be the same kind of project, the same RFP booklet, which is like what you're asked to do basically, but then they give you a twist and two hours to take that twist and readapt your entire presentation to that twist. And so our twist was making an eco district or making a district for some um company that wanted to come start there. So we focus on energy and renewable energy and use a lot of our knowledge from Apes, which is the combined class with architecture, and made a proposal about how we could attract these energy companies to um our city and how we would use architecture and reusing some old buildings there and working with the neighborhood to make an actual make sure the community that was already there wasn't displaced. So we took that, we presented, and we ended up winning first place.
SPEAKER_02I would imagine so. I am so impressed. That's amazing. And with that came $1,000 each.
SPEAKER_03Oh, and we uh had a magazine article written about us. It was amazing. All because of maps. Well, congratulations.
SPEAKER_05So, Ryan, I know that the deadline for applying for maps is coming up on January 19th. What is one thing you would tell somebody that is thinking about applying?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'd say don't be nervous about it. If there, you know, if you want to do it, come up here and present yourself well. And that's really what matters. You don't need to overthink the whole thing about wording on your you know Google form that you're turning in. They want to see you and see who you are and how you'd fit in up here. That's what they care about.
SPEAKER_05What does the interview look like?
SPEAKER_01Um, you have to come and you come up here, you sign up for a time slot, and then you sit down, probably with Miss McKeithan, if not with Miss Treepy or Miss Myers or Miss Lewis or Dr. Orsack, and they're just gonna ask you a series of questions to get to know you and find out who you are and see if they think you're a good fit.
SPEAKER_05Well, Rowan, what is one sentence that would indicate what maps has taught you?
SPEAKER_03Maps has taught me what I want to do. That's like it. It's I architecture has taught me my calling in life. Maps has helped okay, maps has helped me hone my I don't know, life goal or like my life what I want to do, and that's architecture. And I found that through maps. And so I feel like maps has the power to inspire people to do anything in our focus areas, and we have the tools to do that as well.
SPEAKER_05Right, like a lot of self-discovery, I would say. Well, Natalie, what are you most proud of that you've accomplished in this program?
SPEAKER_06I was proud of my teams. I would say we did a restaurant project towards last semester, and I was just proud of our team, how we worked and collaborated ideas. I thought our end product was really good, and I was just really proud how that ended up. But I'm also proud of personally the skills I've learned up here, how to be driven, how to communicate with people, how to get my work done. And we learn that every day through maps, and I just think that's something that I will take on with me for the rest of my life. So I think I'm very proud that I get to learn that every day in maps and get to use it with other people and my teachers.
SPEAKER_05Well, guys,
Closing And Application Deadline
SPEAKER_05I can't thank you enough for taking the time out of your class to come talk with us today. This has been so informative, and I want to sign up.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for showing us around today. This is so impressive, and I'm even more excited about this program than I already was. I understand the deadline to apply is coming up soon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we're right on it. So uh we're at the final stages where the students are going through uh personal interviews, just the the way they would at a university. So we try to mimic that so they get a first taste of what it's like to apply to a college. And so right behind us, we've got all the interviews. You can see students come up and they sign into a slot. And uh if you'll take a look at just this day, um you can just see how many students will interview in a single day. It's a full-day operation, and people just line up. It's like a dentist's office. They line up and they'll go in and run through their interview, have a great time. There's a happy student. Uh, and and um we get to learn a lot about them and try to make sure that we're getting the right students in the right courses um and making uh just uh kind of the ideal maps uh population for next year.
SPEAKER_05Well, perfect. So I will include the link for you to visit and get your applications in by January 19th.
