What is the gesture Program?
gesture reimagines what college and career preparation can be. Change isn't optional, it's already here. As the landscape of work, learning, and technology continues to shift, gesture offers a new approach to preparing for the future of both college and early career. Rather than a single linear pathway, gesture operates through a set of connected courses, workshops, and experiential programs. Each offering is designed to help students practice our pillars: mission, challenge, and story in an AI-shaped world.
Mission
School is about solving your own problems – homework, exams, and requirements. But the people who make a difference are the ones who solve other peoples’ problems, not their own. We help students build a mission mindset: a focus on creating value for other people.
Challenge
College should be about challenge. Instead, it has come to insulate many students from failure and discomfort. But challenge drives growth. In gesture, we do not avoid failure; we seek it out, to build resilience for the failures that inevitably occur in real work. Early career success means seeking real challenge on your own, not waiting for the teacher to give you an assignment.
Story
Everyone talks about storytelling, but telling is the least important part of story. At gesture, story is more about listening than talking. Story is how we understand and connect people, ideas, and communities. Story is the tool we use to change our mindset, and solve problems for other people.
UNHIREABLE Podcast
What AI Exposes About Learning
Curious how AI is reshaping college learning and early career? Worried how you can support your student from home?
In this episode of UNHIREABLE, Kevin and Matt sit down with Professor Anis Bawarshi from UW's English Department to unpack insights from their Family Weekend presentation on AI in early career and learning. Anis, who is collaborating with gesture on an upcoming winter course about learning with AI, shares his expertise on knowledge transfer and introduces the crucial distinction between "knowing how," "knowing that," and "knowing with"—the metacognitive skills that help students adapt learning across different contexts and use AI successfully. Together, Kevin and Anis explore how AI is transforming higher education and offer practical strategies for students and parents navigating this rapidly changing landscape.
Contacts
Emily Uematsu
Program Operations SpecialistCMU 045D
Liz Copland
College Edge Director050 CMU
Kiera Dempsey
Project and Systems SpecialistMaile Soo
Talent Development SpecialistCMU 045D
Matt Erickson
College to Career Initiatives