Building Alternative Futures: Discovering the Student Experience

Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, is often credited with saying, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” While historians debate whether he ever actually said this, the idea behind the quote carries weight: people often struggle to articulate their deeper needs. True innovation comes not from asking for small improvements but from uncovering those underlying needs and addressing them in fresh ways.

When applied to our context at Winebrenner, this means it is not enough to simply gather students and ask, “What do you need from Winebrenner Seminary?” Traditional focus groups often stop there. But to truly understand and serve our students, we must look deeper and beyond surface-level answers to uncover their real experiences and challenges.

Over the past few decades, an entire field of study has emerged to help organizations do just that. Known by many names such as design thinking, human-centered design, or simply Design, this approach emphasizes listening, observing, and creating with the Student in mind. Entire academic programs, such as Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Design, now focus on this discipline. (A quick note: I’ve sometimes been asked whether human-centered design displaces Jesus as the central figure we follow. The answer is no. This method is simply a tool for better understanding people so we can serve them more faithfully.)

Last week’s post highlighted how we are centering the student in Winebrenner’s planning and operations. This week, I am providing some background for an upcoming gathering where students, Board members, faculty, staff, and administrators will come together to explore the student experience. Our goal is not just to hear what students say but to discover, together, what they need most and how Winebrenner can serve those needs.

Too often, tradition, “experts,” or a vocal minority end up shaping how we meet student needs. This gathering is about creating space for broader listening and deeper understanding. Below is a preview of the process we’ll use:

Step One: Building a Profile of a “Typical” Student

Participants will form groups (including students, faculty, staff, administrators, and Board members). Each group will create a fictional character that represents their best understanding of a “typical” Winebrenner student. Every voice matters, so each profile will look different.

The exercise will include:

• Creating a life-size model of the Profile.
• Placing the Profile in a specific context or situation.
• Assigning details like age, gender, and name.
• Adding behaviors, habits, emotions, and relationships.
• Using pictures or drawings to bring the Profile to life.

Step Two: Developing the Journey of the Student

Next, groups will map out this Profile’s journey, identifying both past milestones (Before) and future possibilities (After).

This step will include:

• Reviewing the Profile created in Step One.
• Identifying key moments leading up to today.
• Imagining future milestones that could shape the student’s journey.
• Adding habits, emotions, and relationships along the way.

At the end of Steps One and Two, students will have the chance to vote on which Profile most closely matches their actual experience. This feedback will help sharpen our understanding and open up new conversations across the community.

Step Three: Understanding the Problems Students Face

Building on the chosen Profile and Journey, participants will then explore the challenges a “typical” student encounters. Together, we’ll ask:

• What is the problem, and why does it matter?
• Who experiences the problem most directly?
• When and where does the problem occur?

Groups will also brainstorm potential solutions, documenting them creatively to capture a wide range of possibilities.

Step Four: Considering Winebrenner as a Solution

Finally, we will bring the conversation back to Winebrenner itself. Using the Profiles, Journeys, and Problem statements, we’ll ask:

• Which of these problems can Winebrenner Seminary help address?
• How might our programs, culture, and resources serve as part of the solution?

This process is not about guessing what students want or relying on the loudest voices in the room. It is about seeing students more clearly – through their journeys, their challenges, and their needs – and allowing those insights to guide how we build Winebrenner’s future.

This process is more than an exercise; it’s about shaping the future of Winebrenner Seminary by seeing our students more clearly and serving them more faithfully. By creating space for students, faculty, staff, and leaders to listen to one another, we are laying the foundation for a seminary experience that is both innovative and Centered on Christ and Rooted in Scripture. The better we understand our students, the better we can walk alongside them in their calling, preparing them to lead and serve in the world.

A likely question is “So what?” In other words, once we work through these steps what happens next? Next week I’ll share some additional insights into next steps after the gathering.

• Brent C. Sleasman, President