Shadowing an Architect” Program

Implemented in the 1990’s, the Shadowing an Architect Program has introduced many high school and community college students to the profession of architecture. This group, with an emphasis on minority students, are participants from the area of the national convention host city of the American Institute of Architects or the National Organization of Minority Architects. During the conventions they become intimately familiar with the organizations and how they function and participate like architects for a day. Ultimately, with peers from different schools in the host city, they are divided into smaller design teams and given a small design problem to solve with the aid of volunteer architects. Their solutions are displayed to the entire group (much like an architect presenting to a client) by the teams that designed them.