Designing opportunities

Wisconsin ASID chapter partners with Boys & Girls Clubs

Mary Walgren, member of the American Society of Interior Designers and interior design instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College, instructs four students while Johonna Duckworth, a special events coordinator with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Milwaukee Inc.’s Sista Pride program, looks on. ASID members are working with the Sista Pride program to educate teenagers on opportunities in the design field. Photos submitted by Wisconsin Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers

Walgren works with Laquita Grinnage, a senior, on a design project for the Sista Pride program.

Laquita Grinnage presents a class project as part of the Sista Pride program.

Jenny Rebholz, director-at-large for the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers, could have directed her group’s charity toward any organization.

But she decided to give back to a group that also could give back to ASID.

Members of the Wisconsin Chapter of the ASID are working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Milwaukee Inc.’s Sista Pride program, which aims to expose young women to a variety of professional options.

The Boys & Girls Clubs in Milwaukee serves a diverse population, including 65 percent black and 20 percent Hispanic students.

Less than 15 percent of ASID members are black, according to an ASID press release, and bringing more diversity to the profession is one of the organization’s goals, nationally and locally.

“Sista Pride focuses on girl-oriented initiatives and giving girls a voice in the programs,” Rebholz said. “It seemed like the perfect fit.”

Johonna Duckworth, special events coordinator with the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Sista Pride, said the program aims to mentor students with a holistic approach, incorporating health and wellness, life skills and the arts.

“It’s important to expose the students to the arts and give them different options,” Duckworth said. “I believe there’s a lot of untapped talent in our urban communities.”

Since the summer of 2007, ASID offered Sista Pride participants a way for interested high school students to learn about interior design fundamentals and career choices. Members of ASID supported the program with volunteer instruction, donations of materials and more, Rebholz said.

“We basically try to approach it as Design 101,” Rebholz said, “and give them the basics, teach them what they need to know to be a designer.”

Mary Walgren helped spearhead this summer’s classes, which involved everything from color, sketching and rendering to field trips to the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Walgren, an interior design instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College, wrote the syllabus for the program and said student retention has been excellent.

“Some of the girls in the program are so passionate and so good at this young age,” Walgren said. “You can kind of see the light bulbs go off in their heads when they finally connect what we’re learning with the rooms they live in on a daily basis.”

Up to 15 students participate in the program from schools throughout Milwaukee.

Classes are held at St. Joan Antida High School, which provides a central location for the classes, Walgren said.

Duckworth said the consistent location improved attendance. The program continues this fall, and future plans include finding a space for the girls to test their skills on an interior design project.

“It’s such a great opportunity for the girls as an introduction to the field,” Walgren said.

She also worked with MATC to arrange for students with 90 percent attendance in the class to earn three credits at the technical college.

“It gives the girls a leg up,” Walgren said, “girls who didn’t realize college was a possibility.”

— Melissa Rigney Baxter