14 minute read
Michael Lejong
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FOR ARCHITECT Michael Lejong TEAMWORK IS AT THE HEART OF SUCCESS
STORY BY Scott Smith
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Sharla Derry
Whenever Michael Lejong walks into a building, his eagle-like eyes can’t help but closely examine the structure’s architecture.
The 48-year-old Greenwood High School graduate is an award-winning partner with MAHG Architecture Inc. and lets his busy, creative mind soak in the layout and color of the inside and outside of any given structure, even during his precious few off-the-clock hours. Even when a facility isn’t designed by Michael and his firm, he still notices and appreciates a structure’s appearance.
“I have to stop and look at all of it,” he said with a shy grin. “I guess it doesn’t surprise me, the architecture thing. As a kid I was always playing with LEGOs and building ramps.”
Working at MAHG Architecture Inc. since December 1999, Michael has been heavily involved with numerous projects throughout Greenwood and across Arkansas. These projects have included the Old Rock Gym, the Greenwood High School Volleyball Gym, the Greenwood High School Freshman Center, the Greenwood Police Station, the Sebastian County Courthouse, the Greenwood Memorial Square, the Ed Wilkinson Community Pavilion at Bell Park, Fire Station No. 1, Fire Station No. 2 and the master plan for Fire Station No. 3.
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“We do stay pretty busy, and we’re kind of proud to say that there are only 10 people on our team here at MAHG Architecture Inc.,” said Michael, whose awards include the 2018 Greenwood Citizen of the Year Award, the 2019 Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design’s John Williams Fellow Award and the 2016 AIA Arkansas Outstanding Member Award. “Of course, we do work with consultants and others outside of the office, but it’s nice to have a 10-member team.
“And we have an open-door policy here, which is great,” he added. “We’ve enjoyed some great success here at our firm, and it’s great that the history of MAHG Architecture Inc. goes back to 1935.”
A board member of the Westeran Arkansas Workforce Development Board, the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, the Greenwood Economic Development Commission, the Sebastian County Historical Society and the Greenwood Parks Department Trails Committee, Michael said he and his colleagues also are passing time via designs and planning for The Curve, a 40-acre, master planned mixed-use development that will be located on the curve of the intersection of U.S. 71 South and Arkansas 10 Spur in Greenwood. Plans call for having the 180,000-square-foot development to include shopping, cafes, restaurants, offices, residential facilities, a waterfall and more.
“When you look around, you see that Greenwood is one of Arkansas’ fastest-growing communities,” Michael said. “It’s a great thing that this is happening, and (The Curve) will also include architectural controls to help maintain a look and feel that will showcase the rich natural resources of our region.”
Born to parents Arthur and Peggy Lejong in Alexandria, La., Michael and his family moved to Greenwood when he was in the third grade. Arthur was in the U.S. Air Force, which resulted in the family moving from military base to military base. They once called Florida and New Mexico
Michael Lejong
PARTNER WITH MAHG ARCHITECTURE INC.
home before putting down permanent roots in Greenwood in 1980.
“Other than my college years and my first full-time job in northeast Arkansas, I’ve lived in Greenwood all my life,” said Michael, who attends Grace Community Church and the Greenwood-based Community Bible Church. “It’s a wonderful area here.”
Junior high and high school exams, pop quizzes and classroom discussions were easy for Michael, who described himself as “a pretty good student.” He mostly scored straight As and played trumpet in the junior school band. Michael also served as a Boy Scout in Troop 54 until his 16th birthday before experiencing a couple years in the Civil Air Patrol Explore Post at the 188th Wing National Guard.
“Some of my favorite classes at Greenwood High School were art, journalism and French, probably because those classes interacted more as groups and worked together for common goals and projects,” Michael said.
“All of the teachers at Greenwood are fantastic and many of them had an influence on me,” he added. “Some of my best high school memories took place in Mrs. Bruso’s journalism class, Mrs. Ferral’s art class and Mrs. Thomason’s French class. And of course, I can’t go without mentioning Mrs. Tarver’s English class, Mr. Sadler’s Algebra class and Mrs. Bilyeu’s chem class, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Ware for biology and trigonometry, respectively.”
Also active in Beta Club, National Honors Society and other groups, Michael harbored a love for multiple sports. He longed to do well in sporting events, but something kept standing in his way.
“All 6-foot-3, 140 pounds of me attempted to play every sport, but I was always on the junior varsity squads,” he said. “The most success I had as a high school athlete was in track. I ran the 1-mile relay, sprint hurdles and the 220 hurdles for the Bulldog track team.”
Michael’s fondest memories of his high school years center around the United Methodist Youth Group in Greenwood.
“Several of those kids are still great friends of mine today,” Michael said. “They include Stewart Bryan, Jeff Turner, Clifton James, Tamera Lewis and Todd Basham, as well as the late Roger Parrish.”
Graduating from GHS with honors in 1990, Michael received nominations from George W. Bush Sr. and Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt to attend the U.S. Naval Academy following high school.
“Through a series of unfortunate — or looking back, maybe fortunate — circumstances related to the military admission process, I ended up
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spending my first year of college living at home and attending Westark College, which is now UAFS,” Michael said. “I did not complete a few of the course requirements. They offered me two years of military prep school, but I chose to take a year at Westark before making a decision.
“I look back now and realize that I’m thankful and blessed that I ended up doing what I did and staying in Greenwood, instead of going to the Naval Academy,” he added. “I might not have met my wife, Katie, and I can’t think of life without her or my girls, Abbey, who is 22, and Emerson, who is 18.”
Unlike junior high school and high school, college required quite a bit of concentrated effort from Michael. Declaring chem/pre-med as his major, he transferred to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville during his sophomore year, where he would graduate with a five-year bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design in 1996.
“Between architecture studio classes, working part-time in a local architect’s office, serving as a house boy for Tri-Delta sorority and Kappa Alpha Order fraternity life, there wasn’t nearly enough time to get everything done,” Michael said. “I still managed to squeak out of there with decent grades, a diploma and lifelong friends.”
For Michael, the slightly non-traditional schedule of college architect students was appealing and rewarding.
“I would say architecture school is a little different than most people’s idea of college life — lots of long hours in the studio, project deadlines, professor critiques, lots of research and traveling to visit great architectural works,” he said. “The
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classes are small with 25 to 30 people, so you become connected to the people in your class and in your studio.”
Michael then smiled.
“I enjoyed college life,” he said. “I was there for every Razorback game of the 1994-95 basketball season.”
Greeting his internship at the Fort Smith-based Drimmel and Staton Architects as a “thrilling, educational” opportunity, Michael was able to work on the design of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Tontitown. He also embraced his chance to study abroad in Rome.
“That was the UofA School of Architecture Rome Studies program, and the semester abroad was in the fall of 1993,” Michael said. “Rome is beautiful. It was great being able to experience that.”
Retelling the story of how he met his wife seemingly makes Michael smile every time. For him, in a way, that 1995 meeting seems like it happened only yesterday.
“My college roommate and now business partner, Travis Bartlett, was dating Katie’s roommate at the time and set us up so we could all go out on a double date,” Michael said. “Travis mentioned that Katie was from Greenwood, but I actually thought she was a different girl before I saw her. Of course, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw
Some of the projects Michel has been involved with in Greenwood are (LEFT) Ed Wilkinson Community Pavilion at Bell Park. (RIGHT) Greenwood welcome sign at the intersection fo Hwy 71 and Hwy 10 Spur.
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Katie, and we were married one year to the date from when we first met.”
Michael admitted he feels lucky that he is able to balance work duties with home life. Katie is a CPA with Landmark CPAs, and the two, in Michael’s words, have the “perfect” personal and working relationship.
“We both understand that the other works and has busy times and deadlines, so it works out,” Michael said. “My wife loves the crime shows and sci-fi stuff, and I’m more into comedies and St. Louis Cardinals baseball.”
Among the “play-time” things that excite Michael are listening to bands like Vampire Weekend and 21 Pilots, binge-watching TV shows like “The Office” and “Friends” and re-watching all of the “Star Wars” films with his family.
“You know, I’m a Han-and-Chewbacca guy, so I actually liked the movie, ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story,’” Michael said with a laugh. “And oh my goodness, have you seen the ‘Star Wars’ ride at Orlando? It’s amazing. It’s a true experience, like you are inside a movie. There’s ‘Star Wars’ actors around you; it’s not just you there with video screens around you. The ride simulates you traveling from one spot to another world, and it’s amazing.” When Michael called himself a perfectionist, his face appeared serious, but when he admitted that procrastination has a way of creeping into his easy-going nature, Michael’s face allowed a smile.
“If I’ve learned a thing along this journey — procrastination is a trait of all great architects,” Michael said with a laugh. “It might not really be procrastination in the pure sense, but more like iteration. We do a lot of things over and over to discover the right ideas and develop designs for each project.”
When asked if he could pick his two favorite
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projects to date, Michael hesitated for a second before smiling.
“As an architect, you become personally vested in the many projects, so it’s hard to pick favorites,” he said. “Locally, I would have to say the Bell Park Pavilion and the Greenwood High School Freshman Center because they have such a large impact on the community.
“(And) recently, two of my favorite projects have been the University of Arkansas Sue Walk Burnett School of Journalism and Strategic Media in Fayetteville, and the University of Arkansas Basketball Performance Center,” Michael added. “For the award-winning design of (the Burnett school), we teamed with another architecture firm out of Springfield, Mo., to provide additional architectural support to our local team, and for the basketball performance center, we teamed with Populous out of Kansas City for their athletic facility portfolio.”
Michael paused for a few seconds in silence before his grin appeared.
“And our firm has done every basketball facility on the University of Arkansas campus dating all the way back to the original men’s gym,” he said. “But I certainly can’t take credit for everything. Our entire team at MAHG works really hard and we work really well together, and we are fortunate to work with some great people outside of our office.
“We make it a priority to have an open-door policy here, and we pride ourselves on letting our team’s talent shine,” Michael added. “It truly is a team effort, and for that, I’m thankful.”
(LEFT) Michel was proud to be involved with exterior redesign of the Osborn Insurance Agency located on Greenwood square. (RIGHT) Michael says he loves anything on two wheels.
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& with MICHAEL LEJONG
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR HOBBIES OUTSIDE OF WORK WITH MAHG ARCHITECTURE INC.?
Anything with two wheels. (Smiles.) Road bike, mountain bike, motorcycle. I’ve not ridden nearly as much over the last few years as I’ve wanted, but I am hoping to get out more this summer. I recently purchased an old Toyota Land Cruiser, so I’d like to get into some o - road adventures.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD? Easy question. (Smiles). Tacos! ere are a couple Mexican food restaurants up the road from my work, and we are always bouncing back and forth between those restaurants. One of the guys who works at one actually says to me, “OK. See you tomorrow.” (Laughs)
IS THERE ANY TYPE OF FOOD THAT YOU COULD NEVER EAT, EVEN IF IT WAS THE LAST TYPE OF FOOD ON EARTH?
I’m not too picky but there is some sushi I won’t eat. Sometimes it’s too shy, plus I’ve seen too many viral videos about its contents. (Smiles). My wife, Katie, swears that she is deathly allergic to sour cream. (Laughs).
WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR FUNNIEST MEMORIES? One of my funniest memories was taking a trip with my parents to Tennessee and we stop at a Subway in Forrest City. My mom, Peggy Lejong, ordered her sandwich with “pickles on the side.” e guy making the sandwich said, “Which side do you want the pickles on?” My mom glanced at all of us with a cute, little grin, shook her head and calmly told him, “ e le side.” It became a long-running family joke.
WHAT ARE TWO OR THREE THINGS ABOUT YOU THAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW?
Probably that I have more pairs of shoes than my wife does. (Laughs). And that I’m allergic to tree nuts. With the shoes, I love Vans. I have so many di erent styles of Vans, although it’s hard to wear them all when you wear dressier shoes in the o ce. (Smiles).
WHAT IS THE BEST ADVICE SOMEONE HAS GIVEN YOU, AND WHO WAS THAT PERSON?
One of my success mentors is Darren Hardy, author, speaker and former publisher of Success magazine. Probably one of my favorite quotes of his is, “Success is a comfort awarded only to those willing to do what’s uncomfortable.” When you are in a leadership role, sometimes you must make tough decisions for yourself, your team or your clients, and there is no possible way to make every person happy. You get to carry a lot on your shoulders, and sometimes that’s not easy.
CAN YOU DESCRIBE GREENWOOD IN JUST A FEW WORDS? I don’t think you can say it better than our city log, “Feels like home.” It’s why we chose to move back to Greenwood in 1999 and why we chose to raise our girls here. Our family and friends are here. It was the right t for us as a family.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT GREENWOOD? I like the people. Everyone, at least the people I deal with, really cares about our community. Whether it’s giving of their time, talents or nances, someone is always willing to step up to the plate and help. I think this community pride starts all the way back when you’re a kid, and it just gets ingrained in you.
WHAT ELSE HELPS MAKE GREENWOOD SO UNIQUE AND EXCITING?
I love that we still have the hometown feel, we are centered around our youth and school district, and that we are still growing, even though we are a small town. In my line of work, I get to meet with a lot of people from around the state, and they de nitely know about Greenwood. We have a reputation, and it’s a good one.
Q&A with Scott Smith • Photo by Sharla Derry
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