I'm currently studying architecture at the Community College of Philadelphia. Although my journey has not been conventional, I'm grateful for my path and for ending up at CCP.
I was a teen father. I had my first child at 17, and having a son so early brought some challenges for me. I made the decision to pursue work, as college courses were difficult for me to manage with a child.
That led me on a journey of navigating different career paths, but now that I'm at a point where I am more stable financially, I began looking into CCP because it provides that bridge for people who've been out of school for so long. CCP has a community of teachers and students that you can connect with.
I feel the community at CCP is even greater than I anticipated. The Architecture program and especially the cohort of students I'm working with feed off each other, and we give ideas to each other. We see each other almost every day, whether our design classes together or a history class together, and we're all going on the same journey. And essentially, we all have a similar story. Whereas the four-year college wasn't necessarily the best idea for us before, now we are ready, and CCP is doing everything to prepare us for what’s next.
For example, our next project will be designing at the Navy Yard, and we are assigned a different task related to creating a site plan for the whole building. But in practice, we're all giving each other information as part of the plan. It's a team of people with different responsibilities and tasks.
Sometimes, they bring in visitors who give small informational lectures about the different career paths we could take. We met someone who uses the CAD experience that he learned here at Community College and applies it to military operations that he did when he went on to join the Army. The designer for Nike and Michael Jordan's sneakers, his entire lineup, was designed by an architect. So, just having those different people enter the school lets me know that this path has no cap on where it will take me.
And the professors here understand where we are and what we are going through. They give us their cell phone numbers, are very open, and know our workload.
With the scholarships I received, I’m even more motivated to get my degree because now I will be able to graduate debt-free, which is amazing. Amazing. I almost cried when I found out. I literally dropped a tear. My mom did cry. And it gives me extra motivation to succeed because I feel you guys are dependent on me now. Giving me scholarship support shows that you believe in me. So, I have to show that what you did for me will be worth it. So maybe it's a little pressure, but I'm going to make it happen, you know, I'm going to make it happen. It's good pressure. Pressure makes diamonds.
So, with the education I receive from CCP and wherever I decide to go from my four-year college and master’s degree, I want to take that and lead myself into creating and designing my own homes and becoming a real estate architect/developer. I'll find different distressed properties, take the project from A to Z, and create a better product than what's out there now.
The biggest motivator for me to accomplish my goals is that the field of architecture is tremendously lacking in diversity: less than 2% of the architects in the entire country are black. I'm excited to even be on this journey. That excitement lets me know that I'm on the right path because the doors open for me like this.
If I just had anything else to add, it’s that, at CCP, from the lowest person on the staff to the highest, they are all amazing, and they all care. So I appreciate everything they're doing and the reputation they're building, so when someone knows that you came from CCP, they know the type of education you received.