Universal Design Mentoring at Hopewell High School

I recently had the honor to present a Universal Design program to the students at Hopewell High School in Huntersville, NC. These students (about 35 of them) along with their two mentors, Enya and Derrick Schumacher, are participants in the ACE Mentor program. This is a program that introduces high school students to Architecture, Construction and Engineering inspiring them to pursue careers in these fields while exposing them to real-world opportunities. It’s the construction industry's fastest-growing high school mentoring program, reaching over 8,000 students annually.

And I want it known, that these students are choosing to stay after school on their own time to be a part of this program and that Enya and Derrick Schumacher have been mentoring for three years to bring industry professionals into their classroom--very commendable. Enya is a mechanical engineer working for Bank of America and Derrick, her husband, is an electrical engineer.

I was approached by Enya for this presentation because the students had selected a Universal Design Retro-Fit home for their yearly project. When asked why they selected this project, one student said it was the easiest project out of three choices. Fair enough, but after the presentation, I think they began to see that there's quite a lot to Universal Design.

As they began to call out UD ideas for their own project, I was totally pleased they had truly paid attention and had learned from the presentation. One even picked up on the 9"H toe kick under kitchen cabinets to allow for a wheelchair footrest. Another plans a trip to Ikea to see Universal Design first hand.

I'm promised an invitation to their final critique, so I'll let you know how they did.

Good job by all these folks!