Our Mission
Founded by John Cranston in 2026, Designed For Greatness empowers students across Alabama to rise to the challenge. Through our mentorship and kits, we remind students that they are bursting with potential. We hope that the sense of accomplishment that students feel when completing their kit, with inspire them to keep trying difficult things and learning as they go.
Our Values
At D4G we believe all people have value. It is this value that is at the core of our mission. In the same way that the James Webb Space Telescope was designed for a specific, important purpose, so too are students and adults! Whether their interests take them into construction, welding, medicine, or even music, D4G hopes to remind them that the process of learning and making is always worth perusing. We believe that it is never too early (or too late!) to find joy in the–sometimes challenging, but always rewarding–process of becoming who one was designed to be.
Workforce Development
Because our kits challenge students to engage motor skills, left brain processing, and creativity all at once, our students gain a sense of accomplishment from successfully building their own JWST. Even if their interests long term don’t land them in engineering or astronomy fields, the kit teaches them that good things can come in your school, career, and life if you pay attention and follow instructions.
“Pay Attention and Follow Instructions”
Greatness comes in many forms–being a great friend, being a great student, and even being a great researcher. Our founder believes that the key to unlocking some of this everyday greatness is to pay attention and follow instructions. Successfully building a small kit gives a student a sense of accomplishment and teaches the natural consequences of following direction closely. This natural consequence, learned gradually over time makes students and adults more confident in their ability to problem solve and to get a process right the first time.