MY BEYOND THESE TOWERS STORY

WPI alumni often share that the project-based learning skills they acquired at WPI became the foundation of their careers. And of the many project-based opportunities WPI students experience, the Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP), Major Qualifying Project (MQP), and ability to build your own major are often touted as the most valuable and impactful.

For Joshua Croke ’14, their MQP not only earned them the WPI Provost Award for the School of Business runner up position, it also firmly cemented the path of their life’s work toward diversity, equity, and inclusion. Considered a highly influential voice for the regional LGBTQ+ community, Croke is by all accounts a powerhouse of community service and credits WPI for the role it played in their success.

“Because my IQP and MQP included the challenges that sometimes come from working with groups of people, each was very much a learning opportunity for me —teaching me how to collaborate and make friends with a wide breath of interdisciplinary and multi-faceted peers. The value of WPI’s project-based learning is not only that students got to work on cool and impactful projects, but also that we needed to work well with others. I don’t know where I’d be without WPI’s support of not only student projects but of students themselves. WPI’s project-based curriculum became the framework of my craft, but the beautifully welcoming and accepting campus community became the foundation of my vocation.”

Croke started their consulting business, Action! by Design while still pursuing their degree at WPI and was fortunate to be involved with the Tech Advisors Network (TAN) —as well as connected to then Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Jim Giza. “Those connections helped introduce me to a few folks who became clients and led me to make the decision to keep growing and nurturing my business after I graduated. As my relationship with the Worcester community got deeper, and I learned more about the mechanics of oppression, I shifted my practice to equitable community design, specifically through a creative and innovation-centered lens.” says Croke.

“Today, I still run Action! by Design, and work to support community growth and change through creative arts, media, and design with a focus on equity, liberation, and joy. I am also the president & co-founder of Love Your Labels, an organization that explores identity and expression with LGBTQ+ youth through art, fashion, and design and works with families and communities to create inclusive and loving space everywhere. Additionally, I’ve recently accepted a Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) fellowship with MassDevelopment in support of equitable community and economic development in the Mason Square district of Springfield, MA.”

Although Croke has earned a lengthy and impressive list of community awards ranging from the Worcester Business Journal’s Power 50 (2023), and Pride Magazine LGBTQ Leaders Under 40 (2020), they remain humble saying their most joy-giving moments come from seeing their work positively impact peoples’ lives —especially when parents ask them questions or for help in understanding their children’s experiences around diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“My hope is that our community and our world become a place where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, and that the unique diversity of every individual is what gives us strength to become a truly united nation.”

In closing, Croke acknowledges WPI’s many generous donors, saying, “The financial support given to the university had a powerful impact on my life. From the world-class faculty and campus spaces to support of my position on the Glee Club (especially as its student conductor for the 140th anniversary of the Choral Music Program), WPI’s generous donors were with me every step of the way, and I hope they are proud of the way I am using my WPI education to make a positive impact on the world.”

For more information on Croke’s non-profit work, please visit: Action! by Design  and Love Your Labels.