Hello all,
My daughter (junior in HS) wants to be an architect---or thinks she does.... There are several universities that offer brief summer programs in architecture for high school students. Anyone have any experience with 'em and can comment on their utility?
Best -- Terry
Where are you? Here in Boston I recommend the BAC summer high school program. EDS
Western Kentucky. Right now we're looking at the programs at Ball State (Muncie IN), also in Mississippi and Wisconsin. Boston might be a bit much for a young lady who has little experience outside a town of about 14,000 pop.
Thanks -- Terry
Boston isn't a big bad city and she'd probably do just fine there, but I think something along the lines of what Yestermorrow has to offer might be preferable.
And don't worry about the 14,000 population thing - Warren, VT has a bit over one tenth of that number but they're okay with "big city" girl's like your daughter. ;)
R
Er--- methinks what Terry is actually saying is "I THINK - Boston might be a bit much for a young lady who has little experience outside a town of about 14,000 pop."
;-P
Dear Terry,
The majority of the people writing on this newsgroup don't have architecture degrees. Is there a computer assisted drafting course your daughter could take? Could she get a part time job in an architecture or engineering firm?
Nothing wrong with sending a small town gork to Cambrige for a summer program designed for people her age. Before he was Supreme Court Justice, Judge Breyer used to bike to work daily from Cambridge to downtown Boston. Should give you a concept. Most of Cambridge is walkable and doesn't require a world class course in street smarts. Other parts of Boston aren't much worse.
Please note that the newsgroup is alt.architecture, not alt.architects, alt.AIA.architects, etc. Newsgroups bring people together that share a common interest. Architecture is not just for architects, nor is it created solely by architects.
So, that being said - what is your point about architecture degrees and this newsgroup?
I would imagine that would be one of the surest ways to kill someone's fledgling interest. Staring at a monitor for the summer is hardly a way to stoke someone's interest. Architecture is not designs on paper or monitor. It is the built form. If it doesn't get built the design is just art - kind of lame art, but art.
The best architects/designers understand how things are built. The easiest and most interesting way to learn how things are built is to watch them being built and participating in the building. That's why I recommended Yestermorrow to the OP.
For the summer? Doing what - folding plans and running off copies?
A gork?! Before you trot out a word that's incredibly offensive, first find out what it means.
I agree with this part.
R
NSS. Why am I being patronized, by the way?
I was thinking more on the line that a father wanted the professional opinion of people in a trade about a trades exploration program for high school students.
All of that is important. It also helps to understand how to put 3 D on
2 D.
That is also an important part. Perhaps we should ask Dad why daughter is interested in architecture to begin with?
Any exposure is good. And once she knew how to draft, she could be a participant.
It was a typo, obviously. I meant to type girl and didn't typocheck. Actually, at his daughter's age, I usually use "young lady"
Hello all,
Thankfully I don't have to respond directly to each of your comments or points to make one.
I will just add my experience as an example;
My summers during high school (between sophmore/junior and junior/ senior years) were spent @ Tuft University's Summer Study. I knew I wanted to be an architect then, even applied to Wentworth and others in that pursuit. But the experience of living on campus and taking college like course meant more to me than building models or creating drawings (however the format). Fortunately the second summer there I got to partake in their creative writing and Architectural technnology courses. Both advantageous to my academic endeavors.
Did I end up going to Tufts? No Did I end up going to Wentworth? No Did I also look into the Yestermorrow School? Yes But I landed @ the BAC. Whose campus includes 3 buildings and a limited core faculty/staff.
So, if you and your daughter want a place for her architectural education you may want to start locally/at home.
Try these schools for there programs- Western Kentucky University - Bowling Green Lexington Community College Spencerian College - Lexington Louisville Technical Institute
Also should she/you be interested in seeing what the curriculum, courses , etc. surrounding this sort of education from your own comuputer without so much travel or investment look into the following.
Good luck to you and your aspiring scholar.
David
architecture degrees.
Rensselaer used to have a summer program which, iirc, was a good intro to what school was like in terms of "doing architecture stuff". It combines with the living on campus aspect (see David Brioso's post). It looked pretty good from where I sat but that was long ago and all you need to do is change a dean or director and those programs can become entirely different beasts even if they look exactly the same on paper (when frequently they don't even do that).
A small office I worked for once took a high school junior in (daughter of a friend of a principal) for a summer. Gave her a computer and some light AutoCAD intro and said "learn how to draw" and "oh yeah, go hold the other end of this tape out in the field" and... all that interny stuff. Got to build a model. Turned the field measurements into CAD. Earned a few bucks. Came back the next year and is in archie school last I heard. Not the kind of job people advertise for "Wanted, useless peon. willing to train then lose at the end of summer once it figures out how to make coffee". You've got to go shmooze one up. And more often, as others have noted, the kind of entry level work that can be done usefully is "make coffee, run prints"... It's where most people start so it's good to get on the road early ;-). And you do get to see the inside of an office from there and get a feel. Many of the architects I have run up against have been eager educators and it would likely be somebody of that sort who would take on your daughter under the circumstances. So she might get better exposure for the time than somebody already a student and looking for "something in an office for the summer".
The thing is, office experience shows what working in an office is like. Summer programs show what architecture school and Architecture are like. These things can be fairly exclusive of each other.
If she thinks she might want to be an architect, then office experience may be the best thing. Find out what it's like now.
If she thinks she might want to go to architecture school, and so many of those who go don't end up being architects, then a school summer program may be the best thing.
If she knows full on she wants to be an architect, then a construction job may be the best thing.
responding to
--Cather>> Hello all,
-------------------------------------
Thanks but it's a bit late. The daughter who was a junior in HS when I posted this orginally is now finishing her first year majoring in architecture. :-)
-- Terry
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