Welcome back, Readers!
This final sprint has brought us full circle, reminding us that our work is not only about implementation but also about creating impact and building relationships.
We set out to accomplish five goals this sprint and completed four of them, with the fifth hoping to be wrapped up in our final weeks.
Starting with our successes, platform-led classes have become a regular part of our routine. We have been visiting Bayside Middle School multiple times to spectate Lorelei’s classes, gather feedback, and iterate on bugs in real time. Lorelei has shared that Bridging Roots helps her with lesson planning and consolidates her teaching materials into one platform. She is excited about the impact and wants us to continue supporting her through the end of the semester.
Documentation work has been progressing steadily through Confluence, helping us see the finish line and tie up loose ends for whoever takes on this project next.
The most challenging work this sprint has been creating our final presentation. We began with lots of ideation about who should speak and what story we want to tell, aiming to evoke emotion without drowning in technical details. We presented our first draft and had to reformat the whole thing. The lesson here was to avoid getting too emotional about constructive criticism and to recognise that our peers want us to succeed. Currently, with the presenation version 2 in better shape, we are focused on making the dialogue transition smoothly between speakers and slides, and sound like a natural narrative rather than scripted words, which means practice, practice, practice!
Creating this presentation has made us reflect on how far we have come as a team.
Post-data collection with students and Lorelei is scheduled for next week to give students maximum time with the platform. We are hopeful the data will show improved engagement and excitement for the studetns going to SENĆOŦEN class!
Our team dynamics have shifted this sprint, interestingly. Things are less hectic, with more time spent on presentation work and less on major bug-fixes. We are learning to work through ideas collectively and think deeply about our journey over the past three months. It is crazy how we were all strangers at the start and have now become friends. With Kayal and Neha returning to Singapore at the end of December, we will keep our connections strong!
Something we keep coming back to is that none of us are Indigenous, yet we are working on a project deeply rooted in W̱SÁNEĆ culture and SENĆOŦEN language revitalisation. Working with Lorelei and respecting her timeline is not only project management; it is recognising that she carries cultural knowledge we do not have. Our role as developers is to build tools that help her teach, not to make cultural decisions. Lorelei is excited to come to our final event and hopes to bring some students, which speaks largely about the relationship we have built.
Looking ahead to our final days, we have three clear priorities: finalizing the presentation and making the script feel natural, finishing the documentation, and ensuring this project is neatly tied up for the future. As we complete these final tasks, we find ourselves coming into a full circle moment, reflecting on where we started and recognising how much we have grown.
As we enter the final stretch, we are reminded that success in building software for community partners depends on more than code, it relies on relationships, cultural sensitivity, and leaving something meaningful for those to use.
We are ready for this final push and to tell our story.