Alumni Profile

In my early 20’s I jumped from job to job – two years on Wall Street, a year editing technical documents, many hours spent working for my family’s business—but never found anything that held my interest for more than a few months at a time. Getting serious in late 2000, I decided to move across the country to enroll in the BAC knowing that I would find out whether I wanted to be an architect by working, not by just by attending graduate school.

Within a short time I began to see that I could sit in front of drawings for hours; that I could muster enthusiasm for technical details as well as for abstract concepts; and that my ease with interpersonal contact would be a help. My entire life I had lamented being a jack-of-all-trades; suddenly I found this trait solidly in my favor. I found reserves of energy I did not know I possessed: in younger days the thought of working 100-hour weeks for months on end to accomplish a goal would never have occurred to me.

While I am now somewhat exhausted from nearly six years of night school, my excitement for the profession is undimmed. Looking ahead, I find myself teetering between the paths of being a ‘designer’ and becoming a project manager. I’ve been working construction administration for the past six months, and I have to admit that I adore talking to contractors and engineers—the rush of daily firefighting and watching the project actually get built have tremendous appeal. Sometimes I can imagine working as a consultant project manager. Other times I realize that I would certainly miss the odd creative space of originating design; this balance of pragmatism and dreaming suits my character too well. I think my challenge for the next ten years is to figure out how to move forward while keeping a foot in each camp. For the near term I will definitely stay at Cambridge Seven—the opportunities are great and the ethos of the place fits me.