FAVORITE QUOTE][COURAGE TO TEACH

My favorite part of the book, is not a quote rather it is a though.  In the first chapter he mentions his mentors.  And as he is speaking about them he comes to a realization of how he has had mentors in the past.  He tells us that throughout his life, during critical moments, he has had someone there to guide him in a way that would make him a stronger person and a better teacher.  However he came to a point in his life that where he was waiting for a mentor to come along and guide him through this problem.  But the mentor never came.  Later he came to realize that instead of a mentor coming his way, he was the one who had to be the mentor.  This got him through this part of his life a different way than in the past but was equally effective.  

When i was reading about this, it brought me back to helping the first years at the beginning of the semester.  As we are in our last year of school, we are used to having upper years to turn to to encourage us to keep going.  However this is not the case.  We are now the upper year and we need to do what they did for us and mentor the younger group and encourage them to get through this program.  While critiquing the first years i realized that i have learned a lot through the years and if i did not have the chance to work with them, i probably would have not looked at all i have learned and not have focused on what makes me a strong designer.

NG][SKETCHES

NG][MEDIA CENTER

We were able to decide what we wanted for our final project with the Middle School or the High School.  I chose to work on the Media Center in the High School.  Jovana and i are working together to come up with some ideas to bring into the Media Center.  Jovana went one day without me because i had the flu at the time.  A couple of days later i was well enough to go on my own and get some pictures and talk with the Media Center workers.  They were extremely excited about everything that we came up with thus far, and also gave us some ideas for the space.  They told us their likes and dislikes about the space.  For Example, they liked the lighting in the space.  They say that it works with what the library is for, and that is reading.  The light in the space does not come in too strong to see.  And the artificial light is well organized to give light where need be.  However they do not like the central desk because of the single level that  the stand on everyday.  They would like to have a raised floor to give a better view around and better ergonomics.  The nook in the space is like a focal point of the room, it is the only part of the media center that has color and is almost closed in.  This could use some work, for example, the students put on poetry readings and also other performances, and the media center workers would like to see the nook into good use.  They would like to see a stage or an internet cafe in that area.  We are also looking at the individual seating area that student rarely use, because most of the time the students come in larger groups for projects in their classes for research or a quite place to work.  We are mainly focusing on these areas, Central desk, nook and individual seating but we are also addressing some of the other problems that occur in the space.

NORTHERN GUILFORD][HIGH SCHOOL

Our design project is based out of the Northern Guildford Middle School and High School. We took a small field trip down there to see what the school were like. Brooke and I got there about the same time, right at9:00. We went to the office to sign in and the lady knew we were coming and let us sign in. Then some others came as well. We were waiting and waiting but no Patrick and the rest of the class. Finally the office worker called the middle school and said that they were there and not the high school. It was so funny. The on our way to the Middle School (which is right next door) we got lost in the parking lot. You would think that it would be easy to find the place but both the cars that were at the high school got lost getting to the middle school. As were were walking through the middle school with Bryan. He couldn't answer all of our questions. We were thinking that maybe he didn't know anything about it. In this building though there was way too much natural light coming into the space, with classrooms and other rooms that did not need that much sunlight. We say that we want a lot of natural light coming through, but i think i might have changed my mind. Unless you do it right.

The High school was better. Some of the design made a little more sense. The natural light in some areas were ok, like the Media Center. It was the right amount of light, but unfortunately in other places like the computer lab, it was too much. So much glare on the computer screens made it difficult to see what you were looking at.

Atlanta

The first day in Atlanta the class went to HOK, Herman Miller, and Lord.Aeck.Sargent. At Herman Miller, they had a great presentation about going into work, and what to expect once we got a job. He talked to us about money and the degrees of moving up. It was very helpful and useful information. We also got to walk around and look at the showroom that they had there.

Next we went to Lord.Aeck.Sargent. Almost everyone got lost getting to this place because we were given the wrong directions. So that was twice that our car was late. Atlanta was hard to navigate because of all that construction going on. Well at Lord Aeck and Sargent they mainly spoke about restoration. It was a great presentation if you were interested in that, i know some people were, but i felt too hungry to really listen to what they were saying, because we had to miss lunch (not a good idea). But i was able to get some notes and drawings about it.
Our final stop of the day was HOK. HOK was a great place, one of the women that were speaking spoke about the social aspect of design, and that is what i am interested in, because i like to design the way people use the space (a little different way than usual designers). I wasn't able to speak with her because we had to rush to take a tour. But i was able to get some information about it.

That night was the first night that we could go out and do things around Atlanta. So our room wanted to get something to eat finally. Unfortunately i started feeling really sick and couldn't enjoy myself as much as i wanted. The restaurant that we ate at was an italian place but more expensive that we hoped it would be. We got back to the room early about 6 or 7 and i just layed in bed with a a fever and the entire night i was tossing and turning not being about to sleep.

The next day our class went to Knoll and Perkins and Will. That day we were able to have lunch. I was running a fever that entire day. I was really excited about Perkins and Will and what they had to offer. So maybe i can try to get an internship with the one in Charlotte. That place was really nice. It looked like a house but it turned out to be an entire design firm.

Trip down to Atlanta

This past Sunday through Tuesday, the 4th year's went on a trip to Atlanta. We were going for networking opportunities and to see how the design world looks from the inside. It was a great trip. Starting out Brooke, Susan, Jackie, and myself all rode down together on Sunday, we left as soon as church was over. The roads and the streets were clear, except for a little sleeting and raining. But as we got down the road the roads got a lot clearer without rain or snow, but we knew it was coming. Towards the middle of South Carolina is when the snow started. And it got bad quick. We didn't even know if we would be able to make it down there. But we kept on, and kept contemplating on whether we should at least stop at another hotel on the way down or not. Brooke and I called some of the others that were already down there to ask and what was going on there and trying to figure out the best thing to do. But they did not seem that concerned about us and we were wondering why, because it was so bad where we were. Because of the ice and the traffic it took us 9 hours to get to the Hotel, rather than 6 hours. As soon as we got there we realized why no one was concerned about us on our way down. It was because there was nothing on the ground in Atlanta. All the roads were clear, most of the snow was melted and there was hardly any ice on the roads. It was almost like there wasn't even a snow storm that come through. So after the trip down we all went to bed because of the stress of driving down. The next morning we all got up and went to the firms that were planned for the day.