NYSID’s Supporters Have Made its Pre-College Inclusive and Exceptional
Students at the SICIS Art Mosaic Factory
On July 28, a group of NYSID Pre-College students, accompanied by their instructor Lynette Bard, entered the Architects and Designers Building on NYC’s East 58th Street and took an elevator to the offices of David Scott '91 (BFA), a renowned residential interior designer who is both an alum and trustee of The New York School of Interior Design. At the same moment, other Pre-College students were visiting the firms CookFox and Workshop/APD to hear directly from industry leaders about the business and practice of interior design.
Scott shared the story of his education and career transition from hotel and real estate development to interior design, along with the hard-won lessons he learned over decades in the profession. “Interior designers are generalists who have to know a lot about many things: research, architecture, planning, the decorative arts, rendering, budgeting, and the psychological needs of our clients,” Scott said. “It’s a left- and right-brained world. You have to be an artist, but also a businessperson. I get up every day excited to come to work.” Victor Badami, a senior designer at David Scott Interiors, showed the students material samples and renderings he was preparing for a client who had been working with the firm for decades. Said Willa Bender, a student from Berkeley, CA, “I loved being able to experience what life might be like if I actually worked there.” Added Maude Williams, a student from Dallas, TX, “The office was so beautiful. The context was part of the experience.”
David Scott shows fabric samples to students
What Sets NYSID Pre-College Apart in 2026
NYSID’s Pre-College program has grown into one of the most extensive interior design-focused programs of its kind, thanks to decades of investment from NYSID and supporters interested in widening the pipeline to design and attracting talented high schoolers to the profession. In Pre-College 2026, there were 133 students from around the world (including Angola, Bolivia, Egypt, England, Panama, Spain) and around the country (including Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, and Tennessee), as compared to 48 students a decade ago.
NYSID Pre-College is an intense immersion into interior design that involves the practice of basic design skills, field trips to design firms, studios and showrooms, and exposure to role models who are leaders in the field. It’s offered at two levels: Pre-College I, in which students craft a residence; and Pre-College II, a hospitality design course that focuses on designing a small cafe or hotel lobby. This year, NYSID offered two sessions of online Pre-College (Session I: July 6-16 and Session II: July 20-30) and two sessions of in-person Pre-College (Session I: July 5-17 and Session II: July 19-31). Faculty members who teach in the graduate and undergraduate programs at NYSID instruct the Pre-College students. This year’s instructors were Lynette Bard, Jeffri Boisvert, Lissette Carrera, Cielo Cortes, Pamela Durante, Randi Halpern, Shannon Leddy, Taruan Mabry, Christine Ortiz, and Ana Penalba. This faculty of practicing designers provides a foundation in everything from how to use an architectural scale, to circulation and traffic patterns, to creating elevations, to the basic principles of universal design and sustainable materials selection.
“What makes NYSID's Pre-College exceptional is the New York City setting and NYSID’s engagement with the industry,” says veteran Pre-College instructor Lynette Bard, who also teaches Design Fundamentals in the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design program. “NYSID offers a glimpse into the real world of interior design through guest speakers, trade showroom and design studio visits.” This year’s firm visits included Workshop/APD; CookFox; David Scott Interiors; Gensler; and Cullman & Kravis. Says Bard, “Guest speakers tell it like it is! Students found the presentations from Corey Damen Jenkins in Session 1 and Courtney McLeod in Session 2 especially impactful. They both spoke on current topics such as the use of AI in interior design, salaries in the industry, and how they worked hard to make it where they are today. In both of their cases it was not easy.” Students toured showrooms that included Benjamin Moore, Elitis, Fortuny, JAB ANSTOETZ, Kravet, Lee Jofa, Lutron and SICIS, and visited the Decoration & Design Building, where they acquired material samples for their final projects. At many of these showrooms, professionals sat down with students to answer their questions.
NYSID partners with Summer Springboard to provide a residential dorm experience as well as extracurricular and social support to in-person Pre-College students. NYSID collaborates with non-profit partners YWCA NYC, Girls, Inc., and Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club to bring the program to students with an interest in design and financial need.
Courtney McLeod presenting her work to students
Funding That Is Shaping a Program & the Next Generation of Designers
Thanks to the generosity of donors to NYSID’s Pre-College Scholarship Fund, NYSID awarded scholarships to 47 Pre-College students in summer 2026, which means more than 35% of students in Pre-College received a scholarship. Many of the students who received scholarships are from communities traditionally and historically underrepresented in design. This year, major funding came from the Decorators Club Education Fund and the Estate of Joseph Grusczak. NYSID is committed to increasing the number of Pre-College scholarships it awards every year.
The Decorators’ Club Education Fund awarded 7 scholarships this year totaling $23,786. A number of these scholarships were awarded to students who came to the program through non-profit partners YWCA NYC and Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club.
In 2025, the estate of Joseph Grusczak, a 1956 NYSID graduate and owner and principal of Grusczak Associates, provided a $714,000 bequest to the Pre-College Scholarship Fund. As a result, NYSID granted the majority of Pre-College scholarships through the Grusczak gift for summer 2026, benefiting both online and in-person students. The bequest will continue to open doors for aspiring designers for years to come.
Work & Experience from 2026 NYSID Pre-College Scholars
On July 16, students from the first session of NYSID’s summer Pre-College program presented their final projects to their friends, families, and the leaders of the College, including NYSID President David Sprouls and Associate Dean Daniel Harper. Here’s what students shared about their work and development in Pre-College I.
Genesis Woods | New York, NY
Genesis Woods, who received a scholarship from the Decorators Club Education Fund, is a student at the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan. She came to NYSID’s Pre-College program with a foundation in drafting through a high school architecture course. She says, “I suspected I might like interior design because I love art and architecture. This program showed me that interior design is something I must investigate for my future.” The client she envisioned for her final project is a successful author moving from her grandmother’s rural Virginia home to a New York City apartment. Woods’ vision was to make “a cottage vibe” work in an urban apartment, and she accomplished this by layering soft botanical prints and pastels against dark wood. “One of the most important things I learned was furniture placement,” she says. For her client, a writer and reader, she placed built-in bookshelves in the flow of the kitchen and bedroom, and a small writing desk in the bedroom. Her instructor, NYSID faculty member Christine Ortiz, says, “What she was able to accomplish with so many different patterns and textures was impressive. She has natural talent.” For Woods, what was valuable was not only the hands-on experience, but also the inspiration from established designers. “As an African American, I found what Corey Damen Jenkins had to say beautiful,” she said.
Grace Anne Wold | Atlanta, GA
Grace Anne Wold, who received a scholarship from the Pre-College Scholarship Fund, had no experience in interior design or architecture before NYSID Pre-College. She says, “I have always wanted to do something with interior design and this program has given me a firmer grasp on what it is. It helped me see what an interior designer does day-to-day.” The client she envisioned for her final project was her mother, whom she describes as a cook who is the heart of her community and family. She says, “I took out the walls and created an open plan so she could see the living room from the kitchen. I gave her a modular table in the dining area so she could use it for mahjong.” She says, “The most important thing I learned was attention to detail. I never realized how much time and detail it would take and how precise you need to be with the ruler. Ms. Lynette (Bard) pushed me out of my box, inspired me to mix colors, and gave me directions I would never have come up with on my own.” She adds, “I hope to go forward in interior design.”
Kaitlyn Truong | New York, NY
Kaitlyn Truong is a rising sophomore who received a scholarship from the Pre-College Scholarship Fund. She’s had a strong interest in interior design “since she was a little kid” and describes herself as a person with “a bedroom filled with art” who “has always set up space in a certain way.” NYSID’s Pre-College course was her first opportunity to study interior design formally, and for her, it was transformative. For her final project, she created an apartment for her favorite musician, Peter Steele, the late singer, bassist, and composer of the gothic metal band, Type O Negative. Truong absorbed the lesson that understanding your client’s story is key. Steele’s fans knew him as “the Green Man,” because on stage he wore the greens of the uniform he donned when he worked for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. So Truong created a palette of greens and browns she thought her client would love. Steele stood 6 feet 8 inches tall, so Truong designed the compact apartment with open space and built in organization so it would be easy for an extremely large person to navigate. The students do a session in universal design in Pre-College I, and Truong says, “The most useful thing I learned was to design for accessibility. When you rearrange things to make them easier for people to move through, you make them better.” She adds, “I intend to continue in interior design.”
Caleb Sackey | New York, NY
Caleb Sackey is a high school student from the Bronx who came to Pre-College through NYSID’s partnership with the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. He is a recipient of a scholarship from the Decorators Club Education Fund. Caleb has been passionate about art since middle school. He didn’t know much about the profession of interior design before the NYSID program, but he decided to give it a try this summer. For his final project, he envisioned his sister as his client and sought to create a “luxury modern aesthetic" that would suit her taste. He says, “My vision was to create a sophisticated space with a neutral color palette and warm wood tones.” Asked what he learned about interior design, he said, “It’s art. Each person combines colors and textures to create something entirely original.”
Nawaphon (Ava) Aunchanghan | Los Altos, CA
Ava Aunchanghan is a rising junior at Los Altos High School in California who received a scholarship from the Pre-College Scholarship Fund. She applied for the scholarship entirely on her own. For her final project, she created an apartment for her older sister, who currently lives in Thailand. Aunchanghan intended the bathroom and the office to be “retreats” for her sister. Aunchanghan’s sister loves history and the classics and eventually wants to teach high school, so the young designer sought to combine modernism with classical accents, envisioning a bathroom with Doric pillars and golden swan fixtures. The most challenging and rewarding aspect of the program for Aunchanghan was creating the floor plan. She adds, “The visit to the SICIS tile factory was like nothing I have ever experienced. The mosaic tiles were beautiful, and I was inspired by their floorplan for the Bellagio.”
Open Doors to Future Designers
NYSID’s Pre-College Scholarship program is about making the interior design industry welcoming and accessible to the broadest group of talent possible
To support NYSID’s Pre-College Scholarship Fund, reach out to NYSID’s Director of Development Joy Cooper at joy.cooper@nysid.edu, or make a donation here.
To inquire about applying for a Pre-College scholarship, reach out to the Pre-College office at precollege@nysid.edu.
In years past, major support for NYSID’s Pre-College Fund has been provided by the ASID South Florida Chapter, Brian McCarthy, Bunny Williams, Charlotte Moss, Cullman & Kravis, The Decorators Club Education Fund, Donghia Foundation, Jamie Drake, James Druckman/New York Design Center, the Estate of Joseph Gruszczak, John Rosselli & Associates, Kaleidoscope Project, Kravet Inc. and the Kravet family, Studio Designer, and other donors. The College is deeply grateful for current and past support that has built the program into what it is today.