HMC Architects’ PreK-12 Market Leader Julie Strauss recently received her Accredited Learning Environment Planner (ALEP) designation with the Association for Learning Environments (A4LE).

The ALEP credential is a program that develops the core competencies needed to be an educational planner. The year-long program provides course instruction from industry experts in educational visioning, community engagement, pre-design planning, learning environment design, implementation, project management/ project delivery, assessment of the school facility, and ethics/professionalism. Consensus building and engagement is key to the ALEP designation, and these skills are critical to designing and building successful projects. Our clients can benefit from having an ALEP on their project team because we bring a holistic approach and understanding to the planning and implementation of a project.

 This program, for me, really brought the industry and services provided full circle. We often say that it is all for the students and the children, and this program showed me how the learner is at the center. How our projects can and do have a huge impact on the students and their growth. – Julie Strauss

As HMC’s PreK-12 market leader, Julie has over 15 years of experience assisting PreK-12 districts throughout California to maximize and secure state funding. She is active in the Coalition of Adequate School Housing (CASH); she has completed the CASH Leadership Academy and served on the organization’s Legislative Advisory Committee.