Elementary School Students Can Build New Dreams In Field Of Architecture

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Lessons in architecture. Baltimore City fifth-graders are putting their passion for drawing toward a future career possibility.

Andrea Fujii reports.

From planning to designing to construction, 16 Beechfield Elementary students from West Baltimore are learning what it means to be an architect.

"It seems like a good job that you can have fun with and still get work done at the same time," said Erykah Joseph, fifth-grader.

This is the second year for the "Careers in Design" program in which Baltimore firm Ayers Saint Gross has teamed up with Beechfield.

"They didn't know what planning was, they didn't know what landscape architecture was, and they can take what they're interested in and they can take that and make that a career in the future," said Jessica Leonard, architect.

A tour of the firm culminates the six-week course in which architects teach students, who then designed their dream house.

"I made a laser room. I made a theaters room," said Kevin Harris, fifth-grader.

Only two percent of registered architects nationwide are African-American.  This program hopes to change that.

Architects encouraging students' creativity and teaching them their talents can be a career many never knew existed.

The students who decide to continue down this path can transfer to the Baltimore Design School next year. It's a brand new school specializing in design, fashion and architecture.