reinventing herself

hawley, minnesota, mom goes to ndsu for a new career

Amy Kronbeck’s 11-year-old son got the “What-do-youwant-to-be-when-yougrow-up?” assignment at school. He was only a fifth grader at the time, but his career interest prompted her to start poking around the local universities’ websites, including North Dakota State University.

That’s when she ran across a field she’d never heard of: landscape architecture.

Kronbeck and her family live in Hawley, Minnesota, a community about 20 miles east of Fargo-Moorhead, where there is a breadth of higher education options. Additional education and a new career had been on Kronbeck’s mind. She earned a psychology degree after high school, but had not worked in the field. It was later in her college career when she understood the steps and additional education required for jobs that interested her. By that time, she had missed opportunities to prepare for graduate school.

It was easy to move on with life and drop the idea of grad school. She got married, secured an office job and had kids. She later worked as a substitute teacher, which allowed her to match her work schedule with her kids’ school schedule. But as Anna and Ian (now 15 and 13) got older and more independent, she started thinking about reinventing her career.

Landscape architecture sounded like it could be the change she craved. She loved being in nature, using her creativity and making a difference in her environment and community. “The idea of designing outdoor space was really appealing.”

On Her Way

Kronbeck is well on her way to a new career. She is now in her third year of NDSU’s landscape architecture program and is loving it. “Learning something new has been so refreshing,” she says.

She likes the emphasis on hands-on learning. In her first studio class, for example, she and her classmates did site visits, sketched, learned to use design software and built models. Their final project was to use their field’s tools and processes to redesign Moorhead’s Viking Ship Park. At the end of the semester, they presented their designs to a public audience that included city officials. It is common for NDSU students to be actively researching, creating or working with real clients.

“My favorite part of the Viking Ship Park project was coming up with a thoughtful design where visitors can experience a sense of community, nature and city all within the park,” she says. “From the first site visit to the final details of design, I was able to take my concept and apply it to a park that I drive by every day.”

The class focused on parks and open spaces, so the students also had the opportunity to take field trips to Winnipeg to see the river development project and to Minneapolis to see the Grand Rounds Park System.

Kronbeck appreciates making connections with peers and faculty members. She has built close relationships with other students and the professors in her program. “It is obvious from day one that the landscape architecture professors are passionate about the field,” she says. “They push us hard, are generous with their time and knowledge, and express a sincere interest in our successes.”

She is a full-time student and approaches her education like a job, making sure to always attend class and to budget her time for projects. Sometimes it means missing her kids’ activities or going off by herself to work, but she wants to make the most of her education and to make her family proud.

She originally planned to pursue additional education once her kids graduated from high school, but she is enjoying sharing the experience with them and modeling her motto: “Work hard, do your best.” They empathize when her school work is intense, and they are excited when she does well.

Some of Kronbeck’s friends have commented that they can’t imagine going back to school. “I have 20 or more years of work,” she says. “Why wouldn’t I take this opportunity to pursue something interesting?”

NEW Master of Landscape Architecture degree

Starting this fall, NDSU is offering a new Master of Landscape Architecture degree, which gives students the opportunity to earn a master’s degree in five years rather than the typical six years. The program includes a range of coursework that prepares students for the landscape architecture field and leads to professional licensure.

Learn more at ndsu.edu/ala. [ aw ]