An Exemplary Student
After graduating as the valedictorian of his class at the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, Zhou was admitted to the highly selective Macaulay Honors College at The City College of New York and matriculated at CCNY Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, where he expects to earn a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2028. His many academic honors include the Duang Zhon Ai Xin Foundation Scholarship Award, the Tina Li Sheff and Donald Sheff Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Architecture, and the Spitzer School of Architecture Second-Year Project Design Award. In June, he was also awarded the Student Merit Design Award from the Society of American Registered Architects (SARA) in New York.
After his second year of architecture school, Zhou secured a summer internship with the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), documenting historic districts and landmark structures. Beyond learning about the permitting and designation process, he gleaned valuable insight into how the preservation of the built environment protects critical social and economic infrastructure and sustains community identity.
Zhou brought this sense of purpose to his experience with Hoffmann. “I was able to get a broadened sense of what it means to be an architect in New York City,” he reflected. Zhou connected so well with the team and the work that he has already accepted Hoffmann’s offer of a second summer internship in 2027.
About the Hoffmann Scholarship
Established through contributions from Hoffmann Architects + Engineers and John J. Hoffmann, FAIA, and his wife, Susan Hoffmann, the Hoffmann Scholarship is also sustained through individual donations from Hoffmann employees and CAF supporters. The fund now has more than $85,000.
The scholarship is open to applicants who are students entering or enrolled full-time in an NAAB-accredited architecture program or ABET-accredited civil or structural engineering program, and are residents or full-time college/university students located in southern New England (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island) or the eastern Mid-Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington DC, Virginia, Maryland), regions that form the core of Hoffmann’s practice.
Applicants were solicited through a joint outreach effort with CAF to college and university architecture and engineering departments, campus clubs and associations, social media, and professional organizations. Applications were evaluated by the CAF Board and the Hoffmann Community Action Committee, a voluntary group of employees from varied locations, job positions, experience levels, and backgrounds, united in building stronger communities and opportunity in the design professions.
Past Hoffmann Scholarship recipients include Reeja Shrestha of Howard University, Alyssa Duran of New York City College of Technology, and Christopher Chung of Yale University.
