I’ve been infatuated with the Empire State Building since the first time I saw it in 2005. The grand size and its bold stature towering above the New York skyline was what caught my attention to the building. At my young age, I analyzed every detail of the building to where I could draw it freehandedly. The building covered the margins of paper during school as I couldn’t stop trying to perfect my sketch of the tower. The building is the first thing I look for when approaching New York from the airplane, or the taxi into Manhattan from LaGuardia Airport in Queens. The building fills my mind with hope and motivation to one day be in New York and work on projects that created skyscrapers like itself.

I had the opportunity to intern at the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California for the past two years. I worked as a product designer building products for the Events and Ads teams alongside software engineers. For part of my time there, I worked in Facebook Building 20, which was designed by legendary architect Frank Gehry. The picture shown is the rooftop lounge that I would often work out of. This area was filled with greenery, a coffee shop, and an ice cream shop. It had a very open and welcoming feel because of all the familiar faces and the weather that this area provided. The inside was just as beautiful. The open workspace featured modern art, high ceilings, and microkitchens filled with snacks. The work area felt collaborative and open. I very much enjoyed my time working in this building! It fostered creativity and helped me come up with new product ideas for the company.

I got the chance to visit Italy around a year ago and experienced some of the most amazing architecture I’ve ever seen. I saw the Pantheon in Rome the first week I was in Italy. This was a building like nothing I’d ever seen before. It was like seeing pictures from history books in person. It was probably the oldest building I’ve ever seen, being built in 126 A.D. The inside of the building had a large circular opening for sun to shine in and illuminate the building. Since it was a place of worship, this beam of light seemed to be a metaphor for the Heavens shining in. Despite the many tourists in the building, there was still a warm, cozy feeling to it. It was like being transported to a completely different time period.

I got a chance to visit the Guggenheim on a visit to New York City a few months back. This building was designed by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. When I first saw it, the building reminded me a lot of the BOK Center in Tulsa, just at a larger scale. The overlapping circular design was very modern and flashy. It stood out in Manhattan among an array of skyscrapers that looked the same. Stumbling upon the Guggenheim was like a breath of fresh air. If the building wasn’t beautiful enough, the art inside was amazing. This building did a great job of making me appreciate the art inside and the special place this building holds in the culture and history of New York City.

I grew up going to Kanakuk Kamps in Branson, MO. This is a christian athletics summer camp for kids from the age of 7 to 18. Being a camper and a counselor here shaped my life in so many ways by challenging me to grow and surrounding me with an incredible community. The cabins at camp are nothing fancy, but they hold great memories that I will cherish forever. Each cabin is built to hold up to 14 people (12 campers and 2 counselors), and they hold beds, showers, toilets and sinks. They are not upgraded very often, but this creates a fun atmosphere for the campers.

I spent this past summer living in San Francisco so I got to experience a different type of architecture living around there. The Palace of Fine Arts is one building in particular that stood out to me. The palace was designed by Bernard Maybeck, a well-known California architect. He designed the palace to resemble a Roman ruin, which he achieved by the detailed human art sketches and rounded dome. Standing in the middle of this palace and looking up felt amazing. The architect did a good job of making it feel open and welcoming, but also extravagant. The last time I visited I came here with friends at 2 AM and danced around with people inside the palace. It was definitely a very memorable experience.

I went through recruitment my freshman year of college and decided to go Gamma Phi Beta. During the past 3, now 4, years of college, Gamma Phi has played such a vital roll in my growth as a woman and a college student. During my sophomore year I lived in the Sorority house in a room with 5 other girls. It was while living in that I made some of my best friends, who are still my roommates now. The Psi chapter of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority was founded in 1918 and the house has been remodeled four times with continuous upgrades every semester.

The Oklahoma football stadium has become a place where I have created so many memories. It creates an atmosphere for both families and college students to gather together. The stadium has been in works since 1923, and was most recently renovated in 2016. It took the help of past coaches, such as Bennie Owen, and architects Layton and Hicks to set us up for the stadium we enjoy today.  Everyone  I know  who  comes  to  a game  at  OU  marvels  at  the  size  and  beauty  of  our  stadium,  and  it  has  made  me  love  being  a student  here  even  more.

Located in downtown Oklahoma City, The Chesapeake Energy Arena has served as the home for the Oklahoma City Thunder since 2008. Initially named the Ford center from its opening in 2002 later renamed the Chesapeake Energy Arena or “The Peake” in 2010, this arena has been a place for more than 18,000 fans to congregate multiple times a week during the NBA season. To me, this place is the perfect embodiment of Oklahoma City’s passion for athletics and specifically basketball. The electricity in this arena during a playoff basketball game is something that cannot easily be described, even though we are more than likely not going to be able to experience this for a couple of years as the Thunder begins their reboot.  The space inside the arena is very versatile and can be configured to house whatever event is needed. Other than the Thunder, Chesapeake Arena also acts as a concert venue (my first concert), convention center, and civic event hall. Throughout my time growing up in Oklahoma City I’ve seen the city grow exponentially and no other building can represent that better than the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

I grew up outside of Chicago. Going downtown was really common for my family. One of my favorite places to go was the Field Museum. I loved getting to learn about natural history while seeing the artifacts on display. Daniel Burnham was the main architect for the museum, he fought for its location to be along Chicago’s lakefront. The Field Museum construction began in 1915, it took 6 years and 7 million dollars to create. It was then opened to the public in 1921. The neoclassical architecture created the perfect atmosphere for Chicago’s natural history Museum.