gesture creates courses, workshops, and experiential programs to help UW College of Arts & Sciences undergraduates shift from a student mindset to a professional one. For more than a decade, we have worked closely with employers to understand what success actually looks like in early-career roles. Again and again, we see the same truth: doing well in school is not the same as being ready for work.
In a fast-changing world shaped by AI, students need more than knowledge alone. They need judgment, adaptability, communication, and the ability to use new tools in thoughtful, meaningful ways. At gesture, students learn to approach AI not just as a tool, but as something that is reshaping how people think and create value.
Students working with gesture learn to craft and refine a story of who they are beyond classes and grades. They develop an understanding of organizational mission, learn to solve real problems, and practice contributing to the teams and communities they join. They also learn to embrace challenge, recognizing that growth is rarely easy or comfortable.
our pillars
School often trains students to solve their own problems: assignments, exams, and requirements. But the people who make a difference are the ones who learn to solve problems for others. At gesture, mission means developing a focus on who you are trying to help, what matters to them, and how to create real value. In an AI-shaped world, that distinction becomes even sharper: when a tool can generate an output in seconds, the real question is whether it matters to anyone at all.
Growth rarely happens in comfort. Yet college can sometimes encourage students to avoid risk, uncertainty, or failure. At gesture, challenge means deliberately stepping into situations that stretch you. Students are encouraged to pursue work that involves uncertainty, feedback, revision, and the real possibility of falling short because that is often where growth happens. AI does not remove that need.
Everyone talks about storytelling, but telling is the least important part of story. At gesture, story is a meaning-making practice that starts with listening: understanding what is actually happening, what other people need, and why it matters before you try to build anything. From there, students learn to turn experience into insight and tell thoughtful stories in interviews, team settings, and other moments where they need to make their value visible. As AI makes it easier to sound polished, story is what helps the person behind the work feel memorable and connect with an audience.
see gesture in action
To see current courses, workshops, and upcoming opportunities, visit the link below.
Explore gesture