Student Shadows JJCA Team Members

When we talk about shadows in October, our minds usually go to spooky ghouls and goblins. Not this time: we recently enjoyed sharing insights with a high school student who shadowed several JJCA professionals to learn more about the practice of architecture.

A senior at Brentwood High School just outside Nashville chose JJCA to visit on his shadow day to learn more about possible career choices. We spent a wonderful morning discussing architectural design and associated fields, showed our tools and technology, and shared our work experiences.

Stephanie started the day off with an overview of the firm and showed him the kinds of projects we work on. We discussed what types of projects he might like to design someday if he chooses to pursue architecture. Stephanie walked him through a set of construction documents and shared how each field (civil, interior design, structural, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and technology) contributes to the design and works together so the construction documents are thorough and well-coordinated.

He also spent some time with Tim to see how exterior and interior renderings are created in SketchUp, and how we use the program in our day-to-day work. Then CJ showed him how we use REVIT and he tried his hand at creating parts of a building in the program.

We capped off the visit with a discussion about what he saw, what he learned, and what he thinks about a future in architecture or related fields. The student said he was impressed with the amount of detail involved in developing construction documents after looking over a set of design development documents for Lane Regional Medical Center.

We thoroughly enjoyed sharing our firm and professional field, and wish him well as he determines his best career path. Opening our office to shadow students is one of the best ways we can share career opportunities with future practitioners.