When going into my first year at Woodbury University last year for architecture, the energy that each of my classmates gave off is what motivated me to keep on working and to try to improve on my drawings and concepts. Pushing me to my limits because they were right beside me going through the same struggles that I was. Everyone working together was the true studio environment and that is when we all thrived, until spring break rolled around and we all left campus and a majority of us have yet to step foot on it again because of the covid-19 pandemic. I am now finishing my second year at Woodbury completely online with the renewed hope that I will be seeing my studio family again this fall.

The expectations for this fall will be nothing like that entering my first year because there will still be restrictions in place. The hope is that the energy I felt back then will resurface sometime in my last three years here. For the fall I expect there to be dividers and maybe some sort of social distancing, all still depends on the guidelines that will be in place at the time, but I know that just seeing them will help to motivate me through the school year. Being online does allow me to see them on a computer screen; however, that does not compare to working with them in person in the studio or at the site for our assignment. 

Architecture, as all of my instructors tell us, is not something that is best done on your own and that there will always be a team there to help you build upon ideas to improve the work. I hold closely onto this notation because that is what I have been wanting this whole year, to go back to working with a team in person, to do actual redlines, not to lose someone because of an internet connection, and to actually see models up close in order to grasp a better understanding of what someone is trying to convey. I want to build those connections I had in my first year and to make even more when we go back because these ties now will hopefully last a lifetime.

I want my last three years here at Woodbury to be spent with my studio classmates, helping me to push to reach my best and for me to help push them to reach theirs. To spend it working in a collaborative environment teaching me how to properly express my ideas so I can better do so when I am working at a firm or talking to a client.  To spend it making memories with my studio family that I can look back on later in life and remind me of the passion that I have for architecture.