Drew Haley Smith, a 2023 B.A. graduate of Auburn University in Alabama, is now the youngest licensed female architect in the United States, reports the local outlet WFSA. Smith, who is currently employed as an architect and project manager for Seay, Seay & Litchfield Architects (SS&L) in Montgomery, according to her LinkedIn profile, completed the licensure process in just six months to obtain the certification at just 23 years old early last summer.
The new U.S. record-holder was complemented by the firm's senior principal, Jimmy Seay Jr., who said: "I met her [in] her freshman year. Her work was just exquisite. The composition of her resume and portfolio was really incredible. She was so friendly and could explain things really well. It was a no-brainer. She checked all the boxes, and we said 'we’re going to fore sure hire her.'"
Explore the topic of architectural licensure in our Archinect In Depth: Licensure series.
4 Comments
One sentence about how she finagled AXP would be informative.
AXP hours during college. 23 years of age puts about 5 years to do the architectural degree and AXP. Only need 2 years of AXP in some states. So get those completed, and work on the exam while also still taking the degree and finish the last exam within 6 months after graduating is possible.
Other things that may help her be able to do the class work without spending 80-100 hours a week to do is decisiveness and working smarter not harder. So if she manages her time and her time at work and do all that, it is very possible. Especially if you have a firm that supports your AXP training instead of pingeonholing you into door and window details for some arbitrary 3-5 year time frame before giving you new tasks. Some employers are just jerks and act as a barrier to your licensing process. She got a decent employer, it seems.
https://wire.auburn.edu/conten...
Good for her! Licenses aren't everything but it's also great to have someone show that it isn't the barrier it is sometimes made out to be.
It doesn't hurt that Auburn's curriculum has a strong emphasis on practice and construction as part of design (rather than something for other people to figure out) and she worked at a firm that supported her AXP experience.
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