Architecture Students Receive AIA Scholarships

The Kansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced that it will award its 2006-2007 Kansas Architectural Foundation scholarships to three students in the professional architecture program of the College of Architecture, Planning and Design at Kansas State University. The recipients of the AIA Kansas Scholarships are Michael C. Meyer, St. Louis, MO; Cassandra Klausing, Monterey, IN; and Mark Jacob Long, El Dorado, KS. Each student will receive $1000. Long will receive an additional $1000 scholarship from AIA Wichita.

This scholarship program, sponsored annually by AIA Kansas and funded, in part, through a matching grants program established by the national offices of the AIA in Washington, DC, acknowledges the efforts of those architecture students with demonstrable financial need who nevertheless maintain strong academic records in a professional program of study and show promise for continued academic and professional success.

Michael Meyer will enter his fifth and final year of studies in the fall of 2006. The oldest son of Reverend Keith and Patricia Meyer, Michael is a 2002 graduate of Lutheran High School South. He is a member of Golden Key Honor Society, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Blue Key Honor Society and National Dean’s List. Michael volunteered to help with the construction of a Wichita-area home featured earlier this year on the nationally televised program Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. During the spring 2006 semester, he pursued his architectural studies abroad at Deakin University in Australia.

Cassandra Klausing graduated third in her class from Culver Community Junior/Senior High School in 2003 and will begin her fourth year of architecture studies in the fall of 2006. She is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. Additionally, Cassandra devotes her spare time to the College of Architecture, Planning and Design Ambassador Program in which she actively participates as a mentor and tutor for first-year students. Cassandra most aspires to someday starting an architectural practice of her own that will contribute to the solution of freeing humankind from a dependency on fossil fuels.

Mark Long will begin his third year of studies in the professional architecture program at K-State this fall. He graduated from El Dorado High School in 2001 and then enrolled at Butler County Community College while working full-time at the Cessna Aircraft Company in Wichita. In 2002, Mark decided to follow his dream and enrolled in the architecture program at K-State where he made the Dean’s List. He maintains a solid academic record while working at least 20 hours each week at Manko Window Systems in Manhattan, Kansas. Mark credits his enthusiasm for architecture to the many hours spent working at his father’s side in a contracting business. As a resident of the greater Wichita area, Mark has also qualified as recipient of the annual AIA Wichita Scholarship.

For more information, contact:
Mick Charney, 785.532.1103
Diane Potts, 785.532.1090