If you are looking for a high school program that introduces students to their city in a meaningful way, take a look at San Francisco's Build San Francisco Institute. Begun as an after-school program, the Build San Francisco Institute, sponsored by the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco (AFSF), has evolved into a full partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District as an integral part of the city's public high school program. AFSF's Build San Francisco Institute is funded by grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other community organizations as part of the San Francisco Unified School District's Secondary School Redesign Initiative.

Now in its first year as a school day program, the Build San Francisco Institute offers full credit courses in Architectural Design and Urban Sociology to any interested San Francisco high school junior or senior in the city. In addition, it provides every student who joins the program with a mentorship with a major San Francisco architecture, engineering, construction or interior design firm or civic agency. This is the result of a ten year process that saw the program evolve from a six week summer mentorship experience into a fully accredited academic program.

"One of the more gratifying programs the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco sponsors is teaching high-school students about the design and construction process. It is gratifying because you see these students developing a real understanding and appreciation of how professionals work" says Alan Sandler, Executive Director of the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco.

"We're not about teaching about architecture," says Richard Hannum, an AFSF board member and one of the founders of the program. "We're about community, and complexity and communication. We want students to see the process through which their city is created, and to learn that they too have a role in that process." The key to the success of the program is the unique combination of academic study with a sixteen week mentorship. Every student is assigned a mentor with one of the major design firms, construction companies, or policy groups in the city who can give them an in depth look at the process of urban development. While the students have a high level of interest in the design problems and applications to the city that they work on in their classes, they really get their eyes opened when they see those same skills being applied everyday by professionals in the field. They see first hand where their classroom knowledge can take them.

Rachel Johnson-Leiva, a first semester Build San Francisco student from School of the Arts has found that her mentorship teaches her more than she ever expected. "What I love most about San Francisco is its wonderful background and history. At Page and Turnbull (historic preservation architecture firm), I have been introduced to specific buildings and their historical significance such as the Ferry Building. They are even going to take me to City Hall to obtain historical research on my house, a stick Victorian. The people at Page and Turnbull are very friendly and I definitely feel welcome there. It's a wonderful experience."

Another key component of the program is its reliance on real world issues. While many schools offer project based learning approaches, few students get as involved in community based projects as do the members of the Build SF Institute. At present, the students are creating a video case study of the redevelopment of San Francisco's South of Market area. This large urban renewal project, which will completely transform this area of the city, is just in its initial approval stages. The students have authored and received a grant from the What Kids Can Do Foundation of Providence Rhode Island to study the impact of this development on affordable housing in the city and the sustainability of the urban plan. In order to complete their video the students are meeting with city planning department officials, architects developing high rise condominiums for the area, major real estate developers, engineers providing detailed seismic information (an important issue in San Francisco), and both pro-growth and anti-growth advocacy groups. Students will attend San Francisco Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors meetings to hear public comment on the project and see the process of approval as the redevelopment moves forward. Their goal is to create a report that will become part of the public record, and to share their insights with the community.

Osmundo Arguello, a junior at Ida B. Wells Continuation High School likes Build San Francisco because "we are dealing with major situations in San Francisco that I never knew about before. By studying them, it gives us more knowledge that we will need in the future."

It is interesting to note that many high school students in urban schools are completely bounded geographically. They seldom step out of their neighborhood. Unlike their suburban counterparts, they don't own or even drive cars. This keeps them from exploring the city and getting a sense of its wholeness. One of the insights gained by the Build San Francisco Institute instructors is that students need a real introduction to the city as a whole. Many inner city students have never been to the Waterfront. Many students have never even seen the Golden Gate Bridge. The program breaks down this geo-centricity and allows students to learn that a community like San Francisco is made up of many neighborhoods. By working with students from various high schools, they learn the commonalities among themselves, and the meaning of community.

Sophia Chang, from Burton High School, explains that her mentorship with the Port of San Francisco has allowed her to understand "a vast world." She adds that "the hands on experience I am receiving will give me the skills I need to succeed in the future."

The Build San Francisco Institute is an excellent example of the new trend in public education - a trend towards more rigor, more relevance and a greater sense of community for the students. As it grows and evolves it will offer a greater range of coursework and wider variety of connections to careers. However, it will remain focused on its main mission, the introduction of students to the process through which communities grow and evolve, and the role of the citizen in shaping that evolution.

Build San Francisco Institute - Architecture Foundation of San Francisco