Teens & Young Adults
The National Building Museum showcases achievements in architecture, design, planning, construction, and engineering. Youth programs at the Museum inspire students to examine the people, processes, and materials that create buildings and places. As part of our mission, we have created in-depth, multi-week education programs to teach middle and high school students, ages 12 to 18, from the Washington, D.C. metro area, to use the built environment as a classroom for developing skills in critical and creative thinking, problem solving, analysis, evaluation, and teamwork.
We currently offer three outreach programs:
CityVision students and staff explore the Penn Quarter neighborhood.
Photo by Museum staff
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CityVisionCityVision is a semester-long program that prepares students to become active participants in shaping their communities. The program provides fundamental knowledge of the design process to approximately 70 middle and junior high school students each year. Since its inception in 1993, CityVision has encouraged more than 900 young people to identify issues of concern in their communities and develop the skills to affect positive change. |
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IWWL participants explore DC through the lens of a camera.
Photo by Museum staff
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Investigating Where We Live (IWWL)Investigating Where We Live (IWWL) is a four-week summer program in which students interpret Washington, D.C. neighborhoods through photography and creative writing. Each summer, approximately 25 students spend their Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays exploring neighborhoods and developing an exhibition to be on view at the Museum. Since its inception in 1996, IWWL has encouraged more than 250 students to critically examine the built environment in their communities and express themselves through the creative arts. Read about Investigating Where We Live. Check out the IWWL blog. |
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A DAP student focuses, as he assembles a wooden chair.
Photo by Museum staff
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Design Apprenticeship Program (DAP)Created in 2000, the Design Apprenticeship Program (DAP) builds upon the Museum's two other outreach programs, CityVision and Investigating Where We Live. Each year, approximately 50 previous outreach program participants are joined by other experienced middle and high school students to design and construct a project of their own conception. To date, DAP has served more than 200 students between the ages of 12 and 18. |
Want to participate in CityVision, IWWL, or DAP? Learn how you can get involved.
Are you interested in helping youth learn about design and the built environment? Find out you can help.
Are you a parent or a teacher interested in learning more about our outreach programs? Contact us.
Sponsors
The National Building Museum’s teen outreach programs are generously supported by The William Randolph Hearst Foundation; the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation; Bloomberg; the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts; MARPAT Foundation, Inc.; Clark Charitable Foundation; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; McGraw-Hill; Prince Charitable Trusts; The Tower Companies; and an anonymous donor. Geppetto Catering, Inc. is the official Meal Provider for Teen Outreach Programs at the National Building Museum.
