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The College of Environmental Design's embARC Summer Design Academy brings together aspiring young architects, sustainable city planners and designers/builders from high schools all over the world to Wurster Hall to spend an immersive month in July following their passion.
embARC has been wildly successful since its 2012 launch. The embARC Class of 2017 will have twice as many students as we had when the program began. As we send more and more embARC graduates on to degrees and jobs in the field of environmental design, it is important to us that our alumni represent a diversity of backgrounds, especially those from underrepresented communities.
embARC introduces high school students to the principles and practices of architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture, and empowers them to envision and enact strategies for positive change in their built environment.
embARC teaches young women and men that they can manage a construction project, master principles of design and digital fabrication, and handle power tools with confidence.
embARC demystifies the college application process and the college campus experience for students whose high schools lack the funds for adequate college guidance and counseling.
In the summer of 2017, we want to amplify our ability to bring students from the Bay Area's underrepresented communities to the UC Berkeley campus. To do that, we are seeking outside support to double the amount of full-ride scholarships we are able to offer to low-income students. YOUR SUPPORT COULD CHANGE THE COURSE OF A YOUNG PERSON'S EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL CAREER.
Our long-term goal is that every qualified student with an interest in environmental design would be able to attend embARC, regardless of their family's ability to pay. A successful campaign in 2017 would bring us three students closer to that goal.
Approximate embARC Scholarship Student Budget:
That's $2470 total per student.
True to UC Berkeley's public mission, embARC incorporates an overall theme of civic responsibility by partnering with a local community organization on a Design Build project that addresses an authentic community improvement issue. Through this partnership, students employ the tools they learn in studios, workshops and lectures to make a difference in real-world community development and design issues. A donation in support of embARC also supports embARC community partners!
This summer, embARC students will be building for the UC Berkeley Food Pantry, an emergency relief food supply for all UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students. The Food Pantry serves food insecure students who need core food support. 
UC Berkeley's 2016 embARC Summer Design Academy partnered with the renowned Urban Tilth, a non-profit organization based in Richmond that promotes equal access to healthy food. In their words: "We farm, feed, forage, teach, train, build community, employ, and give back."
The 2016 embARC Design Build project - overseen by CED Fabrication Shop Mechanicians Tonia Sing Chi and Elizabeth Thorp - donated a storage shelter and rainwater catchment system to the Verde Elementary School Partnership Garden, a hub of the North Richmond community upon which a range of local residents depend for fresh food. The structures incorporated sustainable materials into a contemporary form, giving embARC students a real-world example of the necessity of environmental responsibility in all aspects of the design and fabrication process.
embARC@berkeley.edu
Have your name (or the name of your designee) listed on the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design's website sponsor page that highlights all of the embARC Diversity Scholarship sponsors.
Earn a social media shout out on the embARC Facebook Timeline or Twitter Feed!
Get an etched thank you postcard straight out of the CED Digital Fabrication Lab's state-of-the-art laser cutter.
Receive a three-dimensional reminder (and cool conversation piece) for your support of embARC, fabricated in CED's bleeding-edge Digital Lab.
Hob-nob with embARC Student Designers at a reception celebrating the culmination of four intensive weeks of instruction, design, visioning and fabricating, and formally donating the Design Build projects to the UC Berkeley Food Pantry. Students will be on hand to discuss the experience of designing and building the project, illuminating their challenges and successes, that they will take with them after graduating.
Designate a name or organization to be inscribed on a plaque affixed to the Design Build project.
Attend a fun-filled luncheon hosted by Dean Wolch and embARC staff honoring the Wishbone scholarship recipient and other scholarship awardees whose participation in embARC is made possible by your generous donation.
Secure your or your organization's legacy as committed supporters of diversity and food security with a highly visible name or logo inscription on the Design Build project. Limit one per structure.
