Student Experiences and Leadership Initiatives

Design students have endless opportunities to participate in internships, study abroad trips and student leadership conferences. However, students are often expected to pay for the associated expenses and miss these valuable experiences because they’re cost prohibitive. We want students to gain global perspectives and real-world experiences that make them leaders in their chosen fields.

Your donation will support student experiences and initiatives to help them become innovative leaders in their fields.

Students Create Conceptual Design for a Girls’ School in Togo

Trinity Dion and other architecture students traveled to Togo to create a conceptual design for a sustainable girls’ school. The Vandal students partnered with S H E | Style Her Empowered, a non-profit that was founded by a U of I alumna to create education and employment opportunities for women in Notsé, Togo. Girls in Togo receive an average of three years of education over the course of their lifetimes. To design a school that fits the needs of the girls living in Notsé, the students met with local women, teachers and children. At the potential site locations identified for the construction of the school, students gathered measurements, analyzed site conditions, evaluated nearby construction projects and identified local materials for construction. Professor Anne Marshall, who teaches classes such as Native American Architecture and the Global History of Architecture, led the U of I team. Dion lives in Council and is majoring in architecture in the College of Art and Architecture.