By Melody Finnemore, BridgeTower Media//August 26, 2025//
Vernon Elementary students enjoy learning about architecture, engineering and construction as part of AFO’s Architects in Schools program in Portland, Oregon. The program currently reaches more than 5,000 students across Oregon. (Submitted Photo: Emily Markewitz)
Architects in Schools program expands design education opportunities
Vernon Elementary students enjoy learning about architecture, engineering and construction as part of AFO’s Architects in Schools program in Portland, Oregon. The program currently reaches more than 5,000 students across Oregon. (Submitted Photo: Emily Markewitz)
By Melody Finnemore, BridgeTower Media//August 26, 2025//
The Blueprint
- Architects in Schools program reaches 5,000+ Oregon students.
- Scholarships expand statewide, awarding $67,500 in 2025.
- New mentorship program supports diverse design graduates.
- Focus on outreach to underrepresented rural and urban areas.
PORTLAND, Ore. — From elementary school through college, the Architecture Foundation of Oregon is teaching young people about design, engineering and construction through arts programming, environmental understanding, awareness of cultural links to history, understanding responsibility to the natural environment, career awareness and communication skills.
AFO’s Architects in Schools program pairs architects, engineers, construction workers and other professionals in the building industry with elementary schools across the state. Architects in Schools — offered free of charge to schools — currently serves more than 5,000 students in the Portland metro area, Salem, Eugene, and Central, Southern, Eastern and Coastal Oregon.
“Children who participate in Architects in Schools have a higher understanding of growth mindset and a higher level of learning engagement, both inside and outside of school,” said Kim Ruthardt Knowles, AFO’s director of education programs.
Last year AFO served a record number of schools, with Architects in Schools volunteers in 185 classrooms. The program also has expanded to include middle school students and provides a targeted lesson for middle school math.
“Especially since COVID, we have been focused on outreach to underinvested rural and urban areas because we want design education to be available to all children,” Knowles said, adding AFO sends information about the program to all Oregon elementary and middle schools and follows up each year with teachers who participate. “Word of mouth from teachers who have participated is gold as is word of mouth from design professionals who have volunteered.”
She noted that volunteers represent every sector of the AEC industry, including interior designers, landscape architects and even architectural historians. Diversity in volunteers also is essential so that students can see design professionals who look like them and see themselves working in the AEC industry.
As students matriculate to high school and college, they can apply for several scholarships awarded by AFO. Candice Agahan, director of community engagement, said the awards focus on students who are marginalized by ethnicity, gender and are underrepresented in the AEC industry.
“For a long time, our scholarships were focused on Portland State University and the University of Oregon, and now we have more offerings for students who are at community colleges across Oregon,” she said, adding the expansion has allowed AFO to broaden its recruiting efforts for scholarship recipients.
Its Hatfield Architectural Award is a $5,000 scholarship for undergraduate and graduate architecture students at Portland State University or the University of Oregon who express commitment to community service. The William Hart Scholarship is a $5,000 award for Black, Indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC) students earning their bachelor’s or master’s degree in architecture at the two schools.
The Tsagaglalal (She Who Watches) Scholarship is a renewable $10,000 scholarship for non-graduating Indigenous students in U.S. states and territories pursuing a degree in art or architecture at PSU. The Hermann Colas Jr. Legacy Scholarship is a $5,000 award for Black and Latinx undergraduate students pursuing a four-year degree in construction management, engineering or architecture at an Oregon college or university.
The PAE Diversity in Engineering Scholarship is a renewable $5,000 scholarship for undergraduate students marginalized by ethnicity and/or gender pursuing engineering with a passion for climate justice at an accredited four-year university in the United States.
The PCC Architecture + Interior Design Scholarship is a $5,000 award for first-generation students enrolled in Portland Community College’s Architectural Design and Drafting or Interior Design degree programs.
Applications for each of the scholarships open in November and the deadline is in February. AFO awarded $67,500 across the six scholarships this year.
Sofia Irvin, the 2025 Hart Scholar, is a Master of Architecture candidate at UO and a member and advocate of the disabled community. She plans to use the practices of trauma-informed and public interest design in her design practice.
“Growing up and living with individuals with both physical and cognitive disabilities, I am constantly reminded how the built environment exacerbates the unjust treatment of people with disabilities,” she said. “A body is considered ‘disabled’ when it cannot effectively engage with or utilize its surroundings. Architecture exacerbates bodily differences and facilitates disability.”
Anthony Westwolf, a 2025 Tsagaglalal Scholar and enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation, is an architecture major at PSU and views design as a means of making change. He wants to create spaces that honor history while pushing new ideas forward.
“My long-term goal is to collaborate with Indigenous communities to create spaces that truly reflect their needs and traditions. That means working on projects like affordable housing, community centers and schools that honor Indigenous ways of life,” Westwolf said.
Gate Kwaleso, the 2025 Colas Scholar, is a civil engineering major at Lane Community College and will transfer to Oregon State University this fall. An international student from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he plans to use his skills to design roads and circulation in Oregon and the Congo.
“In my country, I have learned through the suffering of the majority of the Congolese population that I am blessed to have the opportunity to study in the U.S. and gain a valuable education. This pushes me to work very hard because it is an investment that will positively contribute to the lives of people in my communities, both in the U.S. and the Congo,” he said.
Also with college students in mind, AFO recently launched Formation: The Design Mentorship Collaborative in partnership with Diversity in Design and COMMA, a collective of BIPOC students and professionals who envision a more diverse and inclusive design field. The program supports soon-to-be graduates transitioning from college into the design profession through a paid mentorship program that connects them with a multidisciplinary design community.
Formation applications open in the fall and have a November deadline. The program runs from January through June, with mentors and mentees meeting at least once a month. Last year, the program’s first, 21 mentees and 20 mentors participated.
For more information on the programs offered by AFO, go to www.af-oregon.org.
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