Home Builders Foundation Awards Thousands in Educational Scholarships to High School Students
Home Building News - May 2008On May 13, the Home Builders Foundation of Metropolitan Portland awarded $8,500 in scholarships to three Portland-area high school students, thus concluding the Foundation’s annual Gary E. Milgard High School Scholarship Competition. To date, this brings the Foundation’s total level of giving toward educational scholarships to $75,000.First place winner, Adam Damiano of Central Catholic, received $5,000, second place winner, David Warberg of Benson High School, received $2,500, and third place winner, Logan Downs of Canby High School, received $1,000.The competition included three phases, each which shed light on the rewards and challenges faced by those in the home building industry. Overall, the competition pushed students to gain an in-depth understanding of the home building industry from an internal, experiential and research-based perspective.During phase one, applicants played Building Homes of Our Own, a CD-Rom game which required them to design, build and sell a high quality home using the provided resources. Along the way, they were expected to identify and address community concerns, to set and stick to a budget and to creatively deal with landscaping and environmental issues.Phase two asked the students to complete at least 16 hours of community service with a home building program, such as Habitat for Humanity. This gave students a hands-on experience in the world of construction and showed them the time, effort and skills necessary to thrive as a home builder.Finally, students who advanced past the first two phases of the competition had to do research for and write a 500 word essay on either a provided industry-related topic or an interview with a professional builder or remodeler. In doing so, they learned about the societal and familial benefits of home ownership, the community benefits of home building and the housing industry.The Gary E. Milgard High School Scholarship Competition is one of three scholarship programs overseen by the Home Builders Foundation. The other two include the Jim Irvine Statewide Scholarship Fund and Building Industry Scholarships.