“We need great builders for our future”: Rachel Vineberg Jones and Eric Jones on why they support design scholarships for high school students
Rachel Vineberg Jones (MArch 2019) and her husband Eric Jones have made a generous commitment to the College of Environmental Design to increase access to design education for North Bay high school students.
Eric Jones and Rachel Vineberg Jones believe in the transformative potential of education. They’ve seen the evidence in their own lives. While studying for her MArch degree at UC Berkeley, Rachel taught in the embARC Summer Design Academy and saw firsthand how the program galvanized high schoolers interested in environmental design. Eric was a first-generation college student who earned degrees in economics and international studies from Yale before establishing a successful career as an investor.
That’s why they’ve chosen to fund scholarships for students from their North Bay community to attend embARC, a four-week program for high schoolers to explore career paths in architecture and design offered by the College of Environmental Design. Their family foundation is providing five scholarships annually for five years to expand access to this summer intensive, which can transform a curiosity about design into a career trajectory and prepare students to attend four-year universities like UC Berkeley.
In coordination with embARC faculty and staff, the Joneses are connecting with high school teachers in less advantaged North Bay districts to identify and recruit students. Scholarships cover the entire cost of attendance, program tuition as well as housing and meals in UC Berkeley residence and dining halls.
The embARC scholarships are part of Rachel and Eric’s larger philanthropic approach of launching new opportunities through seed funding. “We’re excited that we might catalyze others to make similar investments in new, high-impact programs,” says Rachel.
Rachel and Eric’s investment in these scholarships is rooted in their belief that embARC can help incubate the next generation of great builders. They see the program as a springboard toward careers in design disciplines that are essential for the future of our cities and communities.
Investing in a springboard to college and career
At CED, Rachel loved the camaraderie of getting her hands dirty with “blob projects” in first-year studio, learning to see urban fabric in a new light doing fieldwork as a graduate research assistant for Professor Renee Chow, and attaining a new level of rigor and aesthetics in her drawings in Dan Spiegel’s integrated studio. But she was surprised how teaching high school students about design in the embARC Summer Design Academy became such a meaningful part of her graduate school experience.
“I loved opening someone’s eyes to new ideas and witnessing their enthusiasm even though the work was challenging.” Rachel, who is now a principal of Vine Projects, continued to work with high school students through the ACE Mentor Program while working at Gensler.
Rachel and Eric’s partnership with CED will provide access to embARC for North Bay high schoolers who may not know that this potentially life-changing summer college and career exploration experience is available or have the financial resources to attend.
“A summer program can be high value and high impact,” says Eric. “In just a few weeks, it can kindle that first aspiration to attend college. Kids can begin to see their futures.”
“The work that is happening at CED combines optimism and hope with a builder orientation, a belief that we can actually change the world,” adds Eric. “That’s why the opportunity to support students to attend embARC inspires us.”
“We are a builder culture. That is the beating heart of our region and of California. That’s why we think it’s powerful and essential to introduce high school students to environmental design, which is inherently future-forward and builder-forward,” says Rachel.
Rachel hopes that other alums can think back to what was most impactful to them during their time at CED and support the college in a way that resonates with that. “I think it’s more important now than ever to give back to the communities that helped shape you.”
If you are interested in learning about how to make a difference at CED, please contact our development and alumni relations team at cedfund@berkeley.edu or 510.643.1105.