Teens gain valuable exposure to design professions

It’s not very common to see high school students working at paid internships. But in summer 2019, the CAC’s Teen Fellows had an amazing opportunity to do just that, at some of the top architecture firms and construction companies in the city.

By Jessica Cilella, Managing Editor

Although their architecture knowledge is still limited as high school students, the teens brought great energy and endless curiosity to each firm. They all gained knowledge of varying career pathways, clarity about what to study post-graduation and a better understanding of office life

LEARNING ABOUT THE BUSINESS

Angela has been familiar with construction for a while—her father works in the industry as a laborer. But she never knew much about the “business side” of his work until she was selected to be an intern at Clune Construction.

She spent much of her time with Clune learning new architecture terms, working with various teams, contacting subcontractors and visiting job sites, among other tasks.

“I’m really grateful,” she said. “This is my first job experience and I never thought it would be downtown, in an office. I feel like I’m learning a lot and I like it because I get to do all the behind-the-scenes work, like bids, budgeting, calculating square footage.”

Senior Vice President Joe Von Oosbree said he hopes the interns walk away with a better understanding of what direction they might want to take their career, and what options are available to them.

“We expose them to construction, architecture, but we also try to expose them to marketing, accounting, IT, to say we’re a construction company, but look at all the different personalities, the talents, the people that are within our organization,” he said. “We think it’s important to continue to do this and the CAC has been a great partner for us.”

GAINING NEW PERSPECTIVES

At Landon Bone Baker Architects (LBBA), two CAC students—Liliana and Fionn—spent the summer working on the first phase of design for a building expansion at BUILD, a nonprofit on the West Side.

Along with other interns, Liliana and Fionn went to the BUILD site every week. They interviewed clinicians, students and staff to better understand what the organization does and how the building could best serve future occupants.

Liliana said in the process, she gained a greater appreciation for the value of space, and what it means to the people who use it. “They need a lot of resources and they need that new building. It’s impacted me,” she said. “It’s what they need, not how I want to do it.” Fionn said the internship taught her a lot about working in an office setting—particularly the importance of communication and collaboration.

“When you’re working on a (school or personal) architecture project, it’s your ideas. There’s not really any limits to your creativity,” she said. “But then when you start working on an actual project, it’s like, oh wait, there’s rules here that we need to follow, there’s guidelines. It’s a challenge, but it’s good for us to explore more of that and see how it goes.”

Jessie Vargo, the firm’s BUILD lab program coordinator, said the girls left the internship with new skills in a variety of areas and more confidence. “They’re both very bright and brought a level of curiosity and excitement that was really inspiring for the other students,” she said.

EXPERIENCING OFFICE CULTURE

This was Eastlake Studio’s first year hosting a CAC intern. “Over the past year we’ve made a concerted effort to get more involved with the CAC,” said founding principal Tom Zurowski. “It’s right next door, we’re architects—how could we not take advantage of this opportunity?

What stuck out most to Justin during his internship at Eastlake was how hospitable and welcoming his coworkers were. “I thought it was a special opportunity,” he said. “It’s really hard to get this type of opportunity. Having it given to me was really nice.”

The firm had a checklist of both technical and creative aspects of the job they wanted to expose Justin to, from working on a space plan and reviewing engineering drawings to attending “lunch and learns” and visiting job sites. Experiences were divided into two categories: things he would find at any architecture firm and things that were unique to Eastlake.

The goal: help him understand what kind of office environment he wants to work in one day and what he can expect. “The best thing you can do for someone at this age is just expose them,” said Eastlake Director Lorraine Kasznia.

A special thanks to the following firms and organizations who sponsored CAC interns in summer 2019

• bKL Architecture
• Clune Construction Company
• Eastlake Studio
• Ghafari Associates
• JGMA
• Landon Bone Baker Architects
• Pappageorge Haymes Partners
• Related Midwest
• Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
• Studio Gang
• Turner Construction Company