Fay Jones School Adding Design Camps This Summer

High school students learn about architecture during a 2018 Design Camp held in Fayetteville and run by the Fay Jones School of Architecture & Design at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

The Fay Jones School of Architecture & Design is adding three design camps this summer, with the goal of exposing even more children to careers in architecture, landscape architecture and interior design.

The school is also planning to have 250 students enroll in the camps this summer, compared with the 150 who enrolled last summer, said Alison Turner, clinical assistant professor of architecture and design camp director.

“Essentially, what we want to do is we want to offer any student interested in or potentially interested in architecture and design the opportunity to get a little bit of a glimpse into what it’s like to, not only be a student in architecture and design, but also to have a career in architecture and design,” she said.

Another goal of the program is to reach girls and underrepresented populations, referring to both low-income people and people of color.

RELATED: AIA Arkansas, Fay Jones School Work to Make Architecture More Inclusive

Turner didn’t have figures to share, but said she’s noticed that the Fay Jones School’s classes are becoming more diverse. She also said the camps are beginning to impact enrollment in general, with about 20 percent of the school’s freshman class last year having attended them.

For the past three years, four week-long design camps have been held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday at the Fay Jones School on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, at the Arkansas Studies Institute in Little Rock and at the Delta School in Wilson (Mississippi County).

The camps introduce students to the process of design. They are given at least one design problem and briefed on what is needed. They then work through the problems, Turner said. They have to think about scale, how a building will be occupied and other factors. Then they build models of their designs, and sometimes submit drawings as well.

The first camp is held in early June, while the last camp is held in early July.

The program is expanding to add a second camp at the UA this summer because it has been popular enough to fill up quickly, Turner said. It’s the only camp that offers students the opportunity to stay overnight in college dorms.

The other new camps will be held at the South Arkansas Arts Center in El Dorado, because it asked about hosting one, and at the Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville, which had a similar program already but wanted to partner with the Fay Jones School for its expertise.

Now is a good time for the camps program to expand because the school has finally got the curriculum right after experimenting with it over time, Turner said.

Most of the camps are for children who will be enrolling in grades nine-12. The Wilson camp is for grades three-12, and the Amazeum camp will be for ages 6-12.

All of the camps are run by six to seven Fay Jones School faculty members, several teacher’s assistants and, on the UA campus, overnight counselors.

The camps cost $325-$375 and another $300 if the student stays in a dorm at the UA.

But scholarships are available to students who qualify for free or reduced lunches, which is about 30 percent of the students who enroll in the camps, Turner said.

A $10,600 grant from the University of Arkansas Women’s Giving Circle will go toward scholarships this year.

The camps have also received some funding from the UA’s Center for Learning & Student Success and the Alex Foundation. They sponsored 20 students from the Mississippi Delta region of Arkansas, and Turner hopes that funding will continue this year.