On April 2nd and 3rd, LiA volunteers Ruben Garza, AIA (Oglesby Greene), Paola Contreras, RID (HDR Architecture,Inc.), along with LiA co-chair Lorena Toffer, AIA (Corgan Associates), attended two events intended to engage young minds into what it is being an Architect.

The first one of this events was held at Williams Preparatory, where professor Sonja Smith requested our help for her Geometry Class. We found her purpose very inspiring, since rather than just staying with the curriculum, she saw an opportunity and had heard of LiA (Williams Preparatory was one of the schools benefited by LiA's book drive last year). Paola and Lorena attended one of the introductory classes, where they taught the basic principles of Sketchup, software that the students will be using to develop their assigned project, a university dormitory. The students found motivation in some of the examples that were shown, which included interior spaces for healthcare and aviation projects. A future meeting with the students will be held to have a design crit of their work, as well as a final presentation.

The second event was held at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, where Principal and Assistant Principal contacted us after being recommended by some of the staff at the Latino Cultural Center. Students from 6th, 7th and 8th grades stayed quite attentive to a presentation defining Architecture, what an Architect used to do and what is doing now, the abilities/ qualities one most hone, the importance of staying in school. They also received a treat, as they were presented a video of the renovations/expansions at Love Field Airport, since the school is right next door.

We received some of the most insightful questions, we share some here so you can also think about them:

- Why did you decide to become an Architect?

- What is the most difficult/ frustrating part of your job?

- What is the best part of being an Architect?