Project

Part of WMF’s core mission is to build capacities in the field of preservation and to improve education and training. In the United States, there have been ongoing dialogues about the need to enhance diversity in the profession and revive American conservation crafts. (...)

Part of WMF’s core mission is to build capacities in the field of preservation and to improve education and training. In the United States, there have been ongoing dialogues about the need to enhance diversity in the profession and revive American conservation crafts. WMF recognized that a systemic effort to introduce preservation theory and practice at the secondary school level was an important step toward achieving these goals. Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design is the only high school in the United States with a four-year comprehensive historic preservation curriculum. By 2014, every grade will be engaged in the preservation program of study. Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design is providing students with an opportunity to use preservation as a vehicle for gaining valuable skills in a variety of fields and internships and field schools allow students to engage in professional activities. The hope is that this enhanced high school curriculum enables students to be well prepared to pursue further academic study and careers. Hopefully, too, graduating seniors will be better equipped to think about the environments in which they live and how to adapt them to the evolving needs of the communities they serve.