Black in Design Mentorship
A 10-week academic and professional mentorship program for Boston area Black high school students interested in design. In partnership with the Boston design firm Perkins&Will, this program links high school participants with current GSD students and a professional designer to support design education and to unfold possible career paths in design.
Overview
The Black in Design Mentorship Program (BiD Mentorship) is a 10 week academic and professional mentorship program that invites Boston area Black high school students to learn about what design involves and how guidance and collaboration are essential to the act of design. This program, a partnership between Harvard’s Graduate School of Design (GSD) and the Boston design firm Perkins&Will, promotes greater representation of Black talent in the design fields by linking high school participants with current GSD graduate students who provide academic instruction and Perkins & Will designers who offer professional mentorship to both. The program aims to expand the ecosystem of engagement among Black designers by building these mentorship trios to extend support into participants’ future pursuit of design, beyond the program.
Successful participants receive an academic certificate and the opportunity to be considered for a set of design prizes for work produced over the course of assignments in the program.
Program Summary
- 10 week program, alternating between virtual learning sessions and in person events in Boston area
- Black high school students from Boston area
- Instruction and mentorship by Harvard GSD students and Perkins&Will design professionals
Applications to join us for our spring 2023 Black in Design (BiD) Mentorship Program are now open! Apply here by December 15, 2022!
Who Attends
This program is for Black sophomore to senior Boston area high school students interested in learning more about design and the processes of collaboration that produce the built environment.
Learning Format
This program uses a hybrid format for instruction and mentorship. Over the 10-week program, meeting sessions alternate between group synchronous meetings online with the mentees, GSD student and Perkins&Will mentors, and program faculty and in-person meetings to attend public events at either Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Gund Hall or Perkins&Will’s Boston office.
Schedule
Group afternoon learning sessions and afternoon and evening program events occur weekly during this 10-week program. In addition to class meeting times, mentees schedule mentorship and work review sessions with GSD student and Perkins&Will mentors as schedules permit. Thoughtfully completing the assignments of the program also requires time outside of meetings with faculty and mentors as participants’ schedules permit.
Evaluation + Certificate
Evaluation of performance throughout the program is based on evidence of the participant’s consideration of assignments and meeting session discussions, their creativity and care with articulating their own observations in relation to design assignments, and the degree to which feedback provided is incorporated into the work in evolution. Successful participants will receive a program certificate, inclusion in press and presentations on the program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and Perkins&Will. All participants are eligible for consideration for a number of program prizes.
Tuition + Financial Aid
This program is free to participants each annual cycle. The program works with Boston area high schools on a rotating annual basis and hosts students from a school each year. If you’d like your school to be included in this program, please contact us at [email protected].
Program Partners
Harvard GSD
Harvard GSD
Harvard GSD
Harvard GSD / Perkins&Will
Perkins&Will
Perkins&Will
Tosin Odugbemi
GSD MArch I 2024
Rania Karamallah
GSD MUP 2023
Perkins&Will, Boston
Brooke Trivas
Principal, K-12 Education
Perkins&Will, Boston
Mirelle Botros
Perkins&Will, Boston
Contact Us
Please be in touch with us at [email protected] to share your interest in this program and request more information.
Bid press + social media
I really believe in the importance of exposing Black youth to the planning and design fields so they know these fields exist, that planning and design careers are accessible to them, and that they have the power to shape the built environment of their communities.
Whytne Stevens, Harvard GSD student and organizing member of the mentorship program
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