This summer Studio K2 had the pleasure of introducing the world of architecture to our Summer Intern, Nethania! Hopefully we didn’t scare her away before she could fully dive in!
Nethania was introduced to our office via the Colorado “I have a Dream” Foundation. (Dreamers) Dreamers adopts classrooms in select schools, and stick with them throughout there schooling. Their goal is to provide the students with opportunities and tools that encourage them to do well in and graduate high school. Furthermore, they focus these tools and experiences so that the students aim to continue their successes through continuing their education and ultimately work toward the career of their dreams.
It is a bit interesting to think about all the things that would have had to happen for Nethania’s and Studio K2’s paths to have crossed.
In the third grade, Nethania’s class was adopted by the Dreamers Foundation. Dreamers worked to give Nethania and her fellow classmates diverse opportunities to explore colleges and introduce them to various types of resume boosters. Part of which is taking the students to conferences/trips with a focus on exploring different colleges and areas of study, as well as, walking them through the looking for/interviewing process of finding jobs/internships.
Nethania, having an interest in both architecture and engineering, previously did an internship with an engineering firm and wanted the opportunity to experience an architecture firm before going into college, in order to get a better idea of which direction she wants to go in. Thus, her focus for an internship this summer was to work with an architecture firm.
From Studio K2’s path, one of our wonderful clients is involved in the Dreamers Foundation and mentioned to us a seminar the program had to welcome new companies (in the hopes of attracting different fields), ultimately to give their students more opportunities and more fields of interest to explore. After attending the seminar, Studio K2 was excited and inspired to spread the fun of architecture and get a summer intern.
After interviewing a few interns, Nethania was brought on board!
Nethania, is from Denver, and is going into her senior year of high school. She became interested in architecture at a young age. When adopted by the Dreamers program, she was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She had responded by saying she wanted to go into construction and be just like her dad.
The counselors in the program had suggested to her about going into the field of architecture. They set her up with a mentor who gave her books on architecture, showed her how to draw some architectural elements such as doors, and built card structures together.
When asked, Nethania described that her goals going into the internship was to:
- Get a better idea of what architecture is all about.
- Get more information on what the process is to become an architect
- Get a better understanding of the work of an architect.
Additionally, she explained that she had expected to have to do all the drawings by hand and was unaware of drafting programs, such as AutoCAD.
While here at SK2, Nethania had the opportunity to work on several projects and was introduced to AutoCAD, the ANSI regulations, drawing interior elevations and floor plans, organizing a samples library, picking out furniture for interior design, and putting together a look book for clients. We hoped to engage her into our office life style while giving her enough tools and experiences to further her in her career successes.
As she enters into her senior year of high school, Nethania is looking to attend a university with a focus in architecture and engineering. Her top choice thus far is CU Boulder; but if given the opportunity to go out-of-state, she would like to attend either UCLA or Pratt Institute.
Since the summer is almost over (just a bit behind on this posting) Nethania has finished her internship. We are excited to have had her apart of our office, loved the work she did, and we wish her the best of luck on graduating high school and getting into the college of her choice. We hope to have her on board in the future!