Lately it seems like everything is falling into place, educationally and career-wise. It makes me wonder, did I actually set myself up for this? Have I really worked this hard? How come my own excitement for my future shocks me so much?
It can be difficult to see exactly what may lie ahead of me, but I guess I can say with certainty it will be something I indeed have earned, and truly worked for. Even since Lincoln Logs and Legos when my design interests were cultivating, I was motivated and ready to build the next toy iteration.
Without quite knowing the end goal, I began to grow interests in a combination of ideals… creating, understanding how things work, learning about people on a personal level, maximizing effort to feel the accomplishment of a final product. These things that I didn’t even think could relate to each other then, define a cycle of what I could potentially be doing in my future. Due to the ever increasing competition in my career field, I believe it’s necessary educate myself as much as possible. Instead of learning just how to design a house, I am interested in what materials can be used to put it together, how building science can be used to make the systems efficient, understanding the ways of client customization, and creating something that someone can truly call a home.
Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s of Science in Architecture before moving on to Master’s, I plan to do something more than work for an existing firm once attaining my degrees. Getting experience with firms now is certainly a must-have for the resume, but as a self-driven individual I like to see myself taking off on an entrepreneur style path. It might entail putting energy towards learning how to build my own firm, using the knowledge I acquire in my college years to partake in a house flipping team, publishing written content about my work in the residential construction industry, or arranging a compilation of tiny home models to lead the way in a movement that some people have even started to call a lifestyle.
Even if my end goal turns out to be all of the above, I would top it off by focusing in on environmental aspects of design/build projects, which I have become so keen on in the last few years of study. Growing up in a small town tucked into various elements of nature, I’ve grown to believe architecture should not impede on the environment, and that our job as generators of future construction is to design efficiently, with regard to the natural world. As fundamental as it is to learn the basics of each trade, I can only see myself branching out further and deeper into studies as time goes on. With that said, my largely spanning variety of passions and curiosities keep me on the lookout for new opportunities.
Opportunities in high school enabled me to advance past minimum course requirements in college, allowing me to enroll in classes that would benefit skills specific to my major. My hard work since then is shown through above average grades and extracurricular participation. I’ve completed Wentworth Leadership Institute courses that emphasize my interest in being a leader, not just in school, but also in my career. This must have been prevalent to the NAHB student chapter when they bestowed the position of presidency upon me… and even for all the time and effort I’ve put into this club to help get its feet off the ground, the appreciation of the other members and connections I’ve made along the way have made it all so worth it.
To deepen my roots in the tree of residential design I studied building energy efficiency, and recently passed the LEED Green Associate exam. This had to be my own course of action, along with my recent (and highly desired) interview for a summer internship. The research I’ve done on this firm has inspired me even more to follow my sustainable goal of designing in a way in which they explain spotlights “the importance of environmental ideologies while making energy efficiency beautiful.”
As moves are made to increase my success in the residential design/build field, I find myself discovering new ways to keep the momentum going. Sometimes I stop and think about the stresses, obstacles, and numerous ways my future could unfold… and then I think back to the Lincoln Logs, the Legos… and I realize that I’ve been doing these things my whole life. Different levels for different stages, but the thought process is all the same. I’m making my way towards something meaningful to myself that in fact isn’t even an “end goal” after all. All along, each advancement to career possibilities is rather a threshold to another exciting adventure.
