SEARK Today released an article about a $15,000 grant that has been awarded to the Alex Foundation from the Texas-based Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation to purchase architecture supplies and materials and retain architects to provide architecture and design training to middle and high schools in the Southeast Arkansas Delta.
Students will also participate in shadowing days and field trips at the Little Rock-based Cromwell Architects Engineers as part of a recent partnership with the firm to give students direct exposure to a menu of skills and services in the architecture practice.
The reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Act of 2006, HR 2535 legislated support for programs and activities that increase access, student engagement, and success in STEM including computer science, coding, and architecture to support for the integration of arts and design skills. This also allows support for hands-on learning, particularly for students who are members of groups that are underrepresented in subject fields such as female students, minority students, and students who are members of special populations.
McKinley Thomas, president of the Alex Foundation, said the grant is vitally important to give students 21st century creative and technical skills.
“We are delighted to partner with the King Foundation to support giving students year-round architecture and design training for 8th and 9th graders,” Thomas said. “In doing so, students will access a continuum of valuable skills.”
The King Foundation’s grant will help prepare students for success in the architecture and design profession, according to Angela Courtney, Alex Foundation executive director.
“The architecture and design profession is a large user of advanced software including Autodesk, Revit, Google Sketch, Form Z, and other CAD and modeling programs. STEM is a major factor in preparing students for success in this profession – in turn, the architecture curriculum produces graduates with keen problem-solving skills that can be used universally,” Courtney said. “The King Foundation’s grant is a tremendous help for students in the Delta, where architects do not exist. This award allows us to level up the opportunities that will be made available to them.”
