Architecture Alumnus Ernest Banks Boosts Student Success Through New RISE Program

Architecture school can be an expensive endeavor. But a new endowment and awards program established by an early career alumnus of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design is helping to ease the burden.

Ernest Banks, now an architect with Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects in Little Rock, is a 2018 U of A architecture graduate. He founded RISE (Reinvest in Students Everywhere) in 2021 to be a resource for young architecture students who want to connect with industry professionals and help prepare them for future success in academics through scholarships and mentorship. The RISE program aims to uplift architecture students of color; support allies of diversity, equity and inclusion; and help those in need of financial assistance while in school.

Banks said that creating this program was important to him because of his own experience in architecture school not so long ago.

"Architecture school can be pretty competitive, and it's easy to get swept into the me versus everyone ideology," Banks said. "Even with chances to collaborate, it can still be isolating. This can be especially true for students of color that may already feel alone by being in the minority. When I was a student, particularly in my earlier years, I felt like I didn't have someone looking out for me. The professors do the best they can, but there are a lot of students seeking their attention, and sometimes it's hard to build that one-on-one relationship with the teacher."

That's why, once he'd graduated, Banks knew that he wanted to do something for students who may feel like he had. So began RISE, and all aspects of its framework. Though Banks knows how important and necessary scholarships and other support can be for students, he wanted to take things a step further by making RISE a mentorship resource for young designers.

"We are hard at work trying to figure out the best way to connect local Arkansas design professionals with students early in their academic careers so that they feel that continued support that I wish I had when I was a student," he said. "It's also a great way to recruit and retain talent that the Arkansas design community needs."

The parent organization for RISE is the nonprofit studioMAIN, and its board members all have a hand in making RISE a success. studioMAIN is a nonprofit that focuses on architecture and engaging the community through tactical urbanism and education. RISE provides a way for studioMAIN to support and connect with young aspiring designers in Arkansas.

Six of the studioMAIN board members in particular, including Banks, act as managing members of RISE. Banks serves as the creator of the program and acting director, and there is a treasurer plus the other members who are advisers.

From October 2021 to April 2022, the RISE leadership developed their program and raised more than $27,000 to support the program's mission. The program officially launched in August 2022, and three first-year architecture students each received a $500 materials award from the raised funds.

To compete for the materials award, the RISE program held an essay competition for all first-year architecture students in the Fay Jones School. The essay prompt was simply this: "Why do you want to be an architect?" Each winner was to receive a $500 award to help pay for studio supplies and materials for the fall semester.

With more than 23 entries, the RISE team selected three recipients of the inaugural materials award: Brigita Dowling, of Sparta, Missouri; Suzu Kokuho, of Niigata, Japan; and Emma Baumann, of Wylie, Texas.

The RISE program plans to hand out these materials awards annually, to provide immediate support to students, Banks said. The program plans to award five more of them in the spring semester.

In another initiative still in the works, the RISE program plans to create an endowed award with the Fay Jones School. Called the "studioMAIN's RISE Endowed Award in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Interior Design Excellence," it will award $1,000 every spring semester to a Fay Jones School student in need.