SEAN F. MELLON SCHOLARSHIP FUND

2024 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT
Hai Truong

Hai Truong is a fourth-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Architecture degree at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Rather than finding his pursuits at an early age, he found his fondness for architecture at 16. However, the love for art and endless creativity have always been rooted deeply within him since he was in elementary school.

Hai spent his early life in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, then moved to Seattle,
Washington in 2019 to pursue an Associate of Arts degree. This was the
moment when he started to develop an interest in architecture and how it can
convey experiential moods within different individuals. He attended various
art classes to enhance his basic drawing and composition skills. After school,
he collectively explored architecture and its realm of well-known architects.
This gave him an insight into what makes meaningful architecture impactful
within our society. During his time in Seattle, he had an opportunity to run his
solo exhibition at the Asia Pacific Cultural Center with the help of his art
professor, Ms. Kapoor. This was the first inspirational milestone that supported
him on his journey of venturing into the architecture world.
Arriving in Chicago in 2021, Hai attended Illinois Tech with many curiosities.
However, he quickly adapted and got involved with many architectural
organizations on campus. He became the Event Committee Chair for IIT
American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) where he helped organize
various events to help engage a pool of networking for freshmen and other
students. Shortly, he noticed the importance of leadership and teamwork in
the professional field and became involved with IIT’s Freedom of Design
Organization (FBD) and the National Organization of Minority Architecture
Students (NOMAS) to experience these essential roles. Throughout his
freshman and sophomore years, he was a recipient of the IIT College of
Architecture Studio Faculty and Leadership Awards. He was also a nominee
for Spring Awards in 2022 and 2023. In his third year, a model forum was
hosted by the studio in which Hai became one of the winning students. This
gave him an opportunity to intern for an architecture firm named, Kwong Von
Glinow Design Office in Chicago. His journey has just begun and he is still
learning every day from outstanding individuals around him. His goal is to
pursue a Master of Architecture degree at a prestigious institution to further
expand his knowledge and experience. In the far future, Hai hopes to create
an architecture firm to bring quality spaces to everyone from diverse
backgrounds. Hai also aspires to encourage younger generations through his
experience and a sincere love for architecture.

past recipients
academic achievement

The stature and reach of this program each year becomes more noteworthy within the academic world and a true testament and reflection of the vibrancy and intellectual curiosity that Sean brought to us all during his most meaningful and brilliant life.

Please join us for The Thirteenth Annual Sean F. Mellon Memorial Architectural Scholarship Celebration Dinner

Purchase tickets below!

Dreams of Yesterday
Change the Future

Many of us had the pleasure of knowing Sean personally or through close relationships with the loving Mellon Family. It was through these relationships, whether they were professional introductions through Zetlin & DeChiara or through his family circle that we all came to enjoy Sean’s wry sense of humor, very quick wit and the curiosity of all that fascinated him. When a topic came to interest Sean, whether politics, religion, science or photography, Sean left no avenue of pursuit closed in his thirst for knowledge.

It is because of his never-ending love for learning, in particular his exposure to architecture, law, logic, and the arts, that inspired the founding of this scholarship program. This acknowledgement of a preeminent student of architecture has been created to provide a lasting legacy to his name and recognition for continuing education to the recipient for years to come.

2023 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT
Georgia Perry

Georgia Perry is a fourth-year Architecture student at the University of Tennessee minoring in Business Administration. She is a highly-driven and ambitious student, working not only with the College of Architecture &
Design, but also with many other student organizations on-campus. She has continually stepped into leadership roles and taken initiative to help others before herself throughout her time as a student and a student
leader.

Georgia’s design agency began forming her freshman year, when the pandemic created a less-than-ideal workspace. Although she had heard tales of the many late nights and exciting studio get-togethers, she was met with masked faces and desks a little too far apart. It was then she began to understand how important purpose and connection in
architecture is.

Throughout her time at UT, Georgia has worked on designing through the
lens of phenomenology, a psychological term referring to the nature of
human interaction. She sees building and design through three facets of phenomenology: a building’s purpose, the purpose of connection in a space, and the transcendence of both, that true feeling of home, community, and understanding.

These ideals have shaped the way Georgia envisions designs and how she views the future of architecture. In her experiences in organizations
like Habitat4Humanity, Tau Sigma Delta and Order of Omega honor societies, College of Architecture + Design Ambassadors, and Alpha
Omicron Pi, Georgia has been able to push the boundaries of what it means to feel a sense of connection with the built environment as well as
others. She believes strong relationships and human connection to be the
foundation of design and a hopeful future.

Aside from gaining licensure and one day establishing a firm based on these ideas, Georgia wants to bring life, passion, and phenomenological
practices into projects she has the opportunity to work on.

She is extremely grateful to all of the donors, to her friends who have uplifted and helped her, and to her parents who never cease in their support of her.

2022 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT
Katrina Deicmane

An interest in architecture has been a part of Katrina’s life ever since childhood. Having suffered from juvenile arthritis as a child, she didn’t allow her disability to impact her love for the world outside of her room. Instead, she spent her days creating a cardboard micro-universe for her toys and set out to create a more accessible environment for future generations.

At 14 years-old, Katrina enrolled in the 4-year pre-college design program at the Riga School of Design and Art, where drawing, interior design development, drafting classes, and summer field trips helped her turn ideas into real projects. For her final year project, she developed a multi-story accessible interior design project for a person in a wheelchair. This experience helped her land her first internship at an architectural firm, and find more exciting opportunities outside work, such as developing an accessible interior design project for an oyster bar “Planktons” and a New York restaurant “Featuring: The Center for Culinary Arts’’ which will train and hire chefs from various backgrounds, giving them a second chance in life.

Katrina is currently a student at the New York Institute of Technology, pursuing a Bachelor‘s of Architecture. She is very involved in campus life, serving as the president of the Campus Activities Board, a senator at the American Institute of Architecture Students NYIT Chapter, and working as a Peer Success Guide for 64 first-year architecture students. Outside campus, she interns at Enstoa, working as a BIM modeler for healthcare facilities.

After graduating, Katrina’s dream is to create a firm where architects collaborate with scientists, psychologists, ADA specialists, and construction workers to create uniform, well-planned structures, and inclusive spaces, welcoming people with different needs, financial and ethnic backgrounds, and beliefs.