Multiply your impact on design education x10!

Most career exploration programs in the field of design require students to pay for the experience, which makes our Summer Exploratory Experience in Design (SEED) paid high school internship unique.

We believe the power of design belongs to everyone. And a more equitable design industry requires a workforce that reflects a diversity of lived experiences, to the benefit of all. That's why we invest in making careers in design accessible to students who have historically been excluded.

Our SEED program is primarily funded through state and city workforce training grants, but our funders require us to raise a 10 percent private match. Your donation, no matter the size, helps us fulfill this requirement, multiplying the value of your gift by 10.

Meet Katelyn Le, a rising sophomore at Syracuse University, majoring in architecture. As a high school student in Boston, MA, Katelyn spent two summers as a SEED intern and one semester as a DESI intern. She is returning this summer as a SEED teaching assistant.

Initially I joined SEED in 2023 because I wanted to earn money and keep myself busy over the summer. I assumed I would be looking at buildings all day long, but the Hideo Sasaki Foundation introduced me to the greater power of design instead. The program inspired me to continue learning and creating with SEED summers after as I learned more about the impacts on people's lives and ways to improve their surroundings. This is why I truly believe programs like SEED are so important for youth seeking guidance and a path to find their passion. The program helped me apply for architecture school and gave me the confidence to continue the legacy as I am now a teaching assistant for their next summer session!

When you invest in our SEED interns, you're also supporting intergenerational design and Greater Boston communities. Each summer we develop our SEED projects in partnership with our Design Grants alum and other local nonprofits. Interns gain design experience, and nonprofits receive valuable ideas and collateral.

As a 2023 SEED intern, Katelyn was part of the team that won the 10 World Trade Youth Design Competition. The competition tasked high school teams with creating an artist and nonprofit kiosk for the new building's first floor. WeTu, their winning design, aimed to increase the representation of Indigenous cultures of Massachusetts through a weaving structure.

As a 2024 SEED intern, Katelyn and her team worked on a design for the Boston Food Forest Coalition. The project designed a food forest to provide fresh produce, opportunities to learn about growing food, and a gathering and event space. Throughout the internship’s six weeks, they took the layout the community had designed with BFFC and created a program and vision of what the site would look like as a food forest and community space.

In spring 2025, Katelyn returned as a Designing Environmental and Social Resilience (DESI) intern. The program is a school-year complement to SEED. Interns research their own communities and independently design a solution to a challenge they uncover. As a resident of Boston's Bay Village neighborhood, she created a design to transform Tai Tung Street into a culturally responsive green space that is accessible for seniors.

This work is deeply meaningful, and it takes all of us.

We need your investment today for a more equitable tomorrow!