Jashawn Richardson, Sophomore Construction Management Major.
How did you get into your major?
Originally, I wanted to be in architecture, I kind of switched back and forth for a while. I was here when 9/11 happened. I lived in Manhattan at the time, and the train my family had to take was the number one train route. Part of the one train was closed down and they sent it to Brooklyn because part of that train runs under the World Trade Center and the tunnel got destroyed. I was really into the subway and things like that at the time so I thought maybe I should look more into it.
My mom always took me to the library so I could research what's going on in the rebuilding process and stuff like that. My mom was like, "Hey, you can do this as a profession, you know there are people who manage construction and build buildings," and that kind of struck my interest in the construction management industry. Eventually, my interest was more about architecture because I liked the design aspect of it. That really shaped where I wanted to go for high school and college. I got into my first choice high school, which was architecture based. It dawned on me when I started doing this program called "Ace" which is a firm that you create projects.
I designed residential buildings and office towers and the architects were doing minuscule things like designing doors, and I was like "wow how long does it take before they let you do a whole building?" You have to get promoted to be able to design your own building, and you're in your 40s when that happens, and that's too long for me. I didn't want to wait like 40 years before they let me design a building. With construction management, I can still be in the construction process, and instead of designing it, I just put together what the architects design, which is still pretty interesting because I get to see how things come to life.
How did you find out about Pratt? How has your Pratt experience been so far?
A design teacher at my high school went to Pratt and he always talked about it so I did some research and found out they were top ten in architecture. I got into Pratt via a program called Turner, Pratt, and my high school.
Turner took kids from architecture based high schools and turned them into great construction managers, so they send and pay for their time at Pratt. They came to my school and I applied and I got in! They give me internships in summer and winter. It has been great, I love it here, and I get to go home whenever I want because I live in the Bronx.
What are some other hobbies you have that you're into besides construction management?
When I was 16 years old, I ran a photography blog just with my point and shoot. I eventually want to get back into that when I get a camera. I also like to sing. My dad was a singer and all of my siblings have some kind of musical talent.
Maybe I'll get discovered from all the times I sing on the subway on my way to school. I sing everyone, in the shower, the subway, I don't care. I want to get better and take classes, but they're expensive. For graduation, I sang "The Greatest Love of All" by Whitney Houston!
What are you future goals?
I'm going to be working for Turner, I know that. I want to work in residential buildings or schools. I don't like commercial buildings really because I don't like heights, so I want to do things that are low to the ground. Sometimes I think about going back to school for some architecture classes but I probably won't.
I'd like to take a photo class also because I want to get back into my blog, and I still want to sing, but I'll play that by the way the world works.
