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Roosevelt High School officials believe the best way to position students for success is to expose them to as many opportunities as possible. So, the North Portland school has created a program in which is teaching the freshman class about the building industry.

Angela Nusom, college and career transitions manager at Roosevelt, hopes the program will help students plan for the future.

鈥淭his program will get students to ask themselves, 鈥業s this industry something of interest to me?’ And if they could answer yes, that to me is a success,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t will broaden their ideas and then help to narrow them.鈥�

The program, which started in February and will continue monthly through June, uses architecture to expose students to building industry careers. Lorne McConachie, a Bassetti principal, said there is a common misconception that the architecture industry provides only design jobs.

鈥淭ruth be known, within the architecture industry, there’s just a wide variety of elements, roles and activities that kids can do,鈥� McConachie said. 鈥淥ur intent is really to introduce kids to career pathways and let them know (that) whether they want to be a plumber or a structural engineer, there’s some fun stuff to be aware of.鈥�

In the first session, students had an opportunity to take part in a photo scavenger hunt of University of Portland campus buildings as a way to learn architectural vocabulary. Students have since become more involved in actual design projects, including a renovation project for the school’s library. Roosevelt officials will consider students’ renovation designs as the project moves forward in the next few years.

McConachie said that even if students choose not to pursue a career in the building industry, they could apply the skills learned to other jobs.

鈥淚 think part of the immersion into the design world is not so much that you have to be an architect or an engineer, but that you have to think deeply about something,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t the end of the day, as a designer, we have to take analytical processes and synthesize them into a whole, an outcome. Whether they want to be architects or bank executives, it’s an important thing for them to learn.鈥�

As sessions have progressed, students’ interest in the program has grown. McConachie admitted that when he asked the students about their interest in architecture during the first session, only three students 鈥� out of 250 鈥� raised their hands in response. But during last week’s session, many students eagerly drew plans and generated ideas for the library expansion.

鈥淚 don’t think I’m going to be an architect, but I like giving ideas for projects,鈥� said Adrienne Pepper, a 15-year-old student who wants to become a nurse. 鈥淲hen they first came in, I thought we were just going to be talking about jobs, but I didn’t actually know they were going to be remodeling the library; now I’m more interested in it.鈥�

Billy Nelson, a 15-year-old student, said the industry’s collaborative process interests him the most.

鈥淲e’re just working together and thinking up ideas with each other,鈥� he said as he enthusiastically described his design for the library expansion, which included two floors and a hot tub. 鈥淚t’s opening a new door for me.鈥�

Both Nusom and McConachie said the program is not only a learning process for the students, but also the school and the architecture firm. McConachie said Bassetti is involved in a number of other community service programs in the Northwest, but none is as extensive as the one with Roosevelt. He added that Bassetti chooses to do such programs because they provide information about schools 鈥� one of the firm’s client types.

Nusom said Roosevelt hopes to conduct a learning program with a different company each year. The program with Bassetti is part of the school’s Freshman Academy, which creates a supportive environment for freshmen as they transition into high school.

The academy has helped the school lower its dropout rate, one of the highest in the city, significantly in the last few years. Nusom hopes the program with Bassetti will build on that success.

鈥淐areer Day is great, but really kids need sustained exposure to be able to evaluate whether or not something interests them enough to pursue it,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f they’re doing it for six months on a regular basis, like with Bassetti, more of that processing could happen.鈥�