Thanks to a $50,000 matching grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation, School of the Holy Child is launching Design Initiatives for the Common Good. The two-year program in Architecture, Design, and Engineering for juniors and seniors will provide instruction in courses not typically taught at the secondary-school level.

 

Thanks to a $50,000 matching grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation, School of the Holy Child is launching Design Initiatives for the Common Good. The two-year program in Architecture, Design, and Engineering for juniors and seniors will provide instruction in courses not typically taught at the secondary-school level.

 

Under the direction of Kristine Budill, an electrical engineer with more than 20 years of experience working for corporations such as G.E. Aircraft Engines, ITT Fluid Technology Corporation, and Haemonetics Corporation, students will study architecture and design, construction, physics, engineering, advanced calculus, art history, social justice, and filmmaking.

 

Eight rising juniors — Norah Beglane, Elizabeth Eiden, Colleen Fink, Rachel Fitzmaurice, Emma Irwin, Molly Leitner, Emma Scandole, and Joshane Wakefield — have been selected as the program’s inaugural class, which will be intensely focused on opportunities involving science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math (STEAM).

 

In recent years, Holy Child has seen a number of its graduates go on to study in these fields. Christine Farrell, a 2005 graduate, studied engineering at Union College, and currently serves as a Design Engineer for the Support Equipment Design and Analysis Branch of The Naval Air Warfare Center – Aircraft Division. Farrell recently returned to campus to talk with students interested in entering STEAM careers.  

 

“You have all proven to be smart young women, but being successful as an engineer or scientist takes a strong work ethic and dedication to solving the world’s ‘whys,’” said Farrell. “Engineering is not about being a great calculus or physics student; it is about the application of these mathematic and scientific principles to the world’s unsolved problems. Holy Child fostered my scientific and math academics, while also teaching me important oral and written communication skills, allowing me to excel as an engineer and a young professional.”

 

Design Initiatives for the Common Good at Holy Child distinguishes itself from other programs not solely because it challenges an absentee culture of women entering the engineering and architecture fields, but because it does so in alignment with the School’s mission to develop “women of conscience and action.”