DE LA SALLE NORTH CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL

GBD has been a proud participant of the local Corporate Work Study Program at De La Salle North Catholic High School since 2016. Once a week during the school year, GBD welcomes 1-2 students into the office to immerse themselves in the professional world of Architecture and Design. The students engage in the design process by imagining their own projects through analog and digital methods, learning from the diverse experiences of GBD staff in guest lectures, and exploring the built environment surrounding GBD’s home base in Downtown Portland. Guiding the students as they develop their technical skills and apply them creatively, GBD aims to inspire the next generation of young professionals to positively impact their communities through design.

KELLY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Kelly Sun School

Since 2002, GBD has volunteered at Kelly Elementary School by participating in their after-school Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Program. This year, GBD worked with 15 2nd and 3rd graders in the Little Architects Program teaching the students about architecture. Most of the students were introduced to architecture for the first time and learned about spatial relationships, scale, and sustainability through working on a project to design their “school of the future.”

Kelly Food Pantry

GBD has supported the Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Food Pantry at Kelly Center Head Start in SE Portland since the food pantry was established in 2008. GBD employees contribute funds to Latino Network through payroll deductions that can be used by over 90 Kelly Elementary School and neighborhood families in need to buy food and/or household goods every month.

Additionally, every two months, GBD sends a group of volunteers to partner with Latino Network to help deliver some 2,000-3,000 lbs of food to the SUN Food Pantry at Kelly Center Head Start. GBD volunteers help load and unload the trucks, and then assist with stocking the food at the pantry.

ACE

GBD is a proud and founding member of the ACE Mentoring Program of Oregon. ACE is a national, non-profit after school program that connects high school juniors and seniors to the design industry and careers in Architecture, Construction and Engineering. Each year the Oregon program pairs approximately 150 students with 100 mentor volunteers into smaller groups to guide students through a team-oriented design project. GBD’s involvement started from the very beginning with the program’s formation in Portland in 2006. Since then, we have remained heavily invested with over 25% of current employees having been engaged as mentors, team leaders and board members.

ASSOC FOR LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS (A4LE)

The SchoolsNext Design Competition, hosted by the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE), is an international annual competition, open to middle school and high school students, that challenges student teams to design their learning environments.

GBD has helped mentor this program for the OR/SW WA chapter of A4LE teaching students about project programming, design, and documentation.

ENTERPRISE ACADEMY

Enterprise Academy, hosted by the Rotary Club of Portland, brings together local high school students to participate in a weekend-long entrepreneurship conference and competition. Students attend speaker series and work sessions to learn about the business-building process. As teams, students then build their own businesses and present to a panel of judges who selects a winning team based on overall performance.

NOMA PROJECT PIPELINE

NOMA Project Pipeline NOMA Project Pipeline is a 2 Day Summer camp designed to introduce middle school students (grades 6-8/ages 11-14) to the field of architecture. The mission is to empower young people to affect change in their community through design. We advocate for increased inclusiveness, diversity, fellowship, equity, and excellence in design. Through Project Pipeline, young people grasp the significance of architecture in their daily lives, as well as the broader cultural, social, and historical implications. They develop skills and tools to contribute to their community critically and constructively. Project Pipeline nationally has served more than 10,000 students over the last decade.

SABIN-SCHELLENBERG

GBD actively participates in assisting Sabin-Schellenberg Professional Technical Center with architectural design critiques, software proficiency and professional advisement helping prepare high-school students for continuing education in career-related programs which allow students to earn college credit from local community colleges. By serving as jurors, critics, and as part of their Advisory Board, GBD has been able to engage a wide array of diverse students early in their development, prior to college, and help influence career paths forward for the architecture, design, and creative industries.

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