ACBA Awards Full Scholarship to City Housing Resident
February 25, 2015
CHARLESTON, SC – At the charismatic and wise age of 42, Kimberly Crystal Kornickey will become the first student to attend the American College of the Building Arts (ACBA) on a full scholarship set aside for a Charleston City Housing Authority public housing resident. The scholarship was first established one year ago. Charleston-based ACBA is the nation’s only college to offer the Bachelors of Applied Sciences degree in the Building Arts. Visit www.BuildingArtsCollege.us.
Crystal, as she prefers to be called, is a preacher’s daughter who has bucked conventional expectations of herself, all her life.
Crystal will proudly tell you how much she still admires her deceased father, Arthur Kornickey, for his eclectic career choices as pastor of Payne RMUE Church on James Island, and as news announcer at WTMA, WOKE and WPAL radio stations. The elder Kornickey was also a soldier in the US Army during the Korean War, and later on, an Air Force reservist. “I’m very much like him, because he never did just one thing,” Kornickey said. So mid-point of her life, Crystal is reversing the educational track she has been on since graduating from Middleton High School in 1991, when her mother Barbara, then a Roper Hospital LPN, convinced her to become a radiology technician.
With a Trident Technical College associate degree in radiologic technology and a bachelors degree in radiologic sciences from the Arizona-based Pima Medical Institute to her credit, Crystal will major in plaster working at ACBA. “I’m fulfilling a desire to work with my hands and to own my own construction business someday,” said Kornickey. “I can tie-up my hair and be productive even in a male dominated occupation — while still wearing my lipstick.”
In a September 1, 2014 Associated Press article entitled “Few women in construction; recruiting efforts rise,” David Crary states “…On this Labor Day weekend, ponder the latest federal data: About 7.1 million Americans were employed in construction-related occupations last year – and only 2.6 percent were women.” At ACBA, women currently comprise 19% of the total student body of 43 full and part-time students, and the college is aggressively seeking to increase the presence of students of color at the school.
“Like all ACBA students, Crystal will have a unique opportunity to earn a degree held by a handful of scholars worldwide,” said Mike Whack, Diversity Outreach and Recruitment Coordinator. Between their freshmen and senior years, ACBA students are required to complete a 6 to 8 week internship every summer, in or outside the country. “By graduation, some of our students are also world-traveled scholars,” Whack said.
Last fall, an “Open House at ACBA” flyer in the doorway of Crystal’s downtown public housing residence caught her attention. Crystal immediately phoned Lucas Adams, ACBA’s Director of Admissions and Educational Services. Once invited for an interview, Crystal not only impressed the staff with her latest collegiate performance at Pima Medical Institute, a 3.0 GPA rounded, but also showed a wide range of talents and interests, just like her dad.
Aside from her interest in plastering, Crystal has a liking for forged architectural iron. As one of the six tradecrafts taught at ACBA, the school’s iron curricula was instituted by the Charleston celebrated artisan and blacksmith Philip Simmons, who is ACBA’s inspirational founder. Simmons taught at ACBA prior to his passing on June 22, 2009.
Crystal loves music. She performs as a singer with the Lowcountry Voices choir and with Ann Caldwell and the Magnolia Singers. She plays hand percussion instruments with the rock band Ka-Tet and with African dance troupes Adande and Wo-Se. As a young child, Crystal enjoyed playing the tenor saxophone and drawing “ladies wearing wide skirts and dresses,” both interests she acquired from music and art classes at Charleston City Parks and Recreation where her father worked. Crystal’s younger brother Kevin plays keyboards, drums, and guitar.
“One of my goals is to purchase an old home on the Charleston peninsula and customize it to my liking. I can see how an ACBA education would provide me the knowledge to make that a reality someday,” Crystal wrote in an essay required for ACBA admission. Come this August, that reality comes closer for Crystal.
For additional information on the degree program at American College of the Building Arts visit: www.buildingartscollege.us or call 843-266-7834 for details about the school’s Open House on Saturday, March 14th for prospective students and their families.
About American College of the Building Arts
The only private, non-profit college in the country, and the world, that awards a bachelors of applied science in one of six traditional building arts trade majors: stone carving, carpentry, forged architectural iron, masonry, plaster, or timber framing. ACBA educates and trains artisans in the traditional building arts to foster exceptional craftsmanship and encourage the preservation, enrichment, and understanding of the world’s architectural heritage through a liberal arts and sciences education.
