The Change Starts Now Empowering the Future through Education

I lay in my room. Through my stomach, I could feel the coolness of the wood parquet floor that I helped install with my father in the years prior. One square lay horizontal, the next vertical, horizontal, vertical; each ¼ inch piece, laid by hand. My nose was buried in a book, Tuck Everlasting. The smell of my middle school library, ever present within the pages.

My family did not have cable. I did not have a cell phone or an iPod (which was quickly becoming fashionable at the time); so, books provided an escape for me. I dreamt of what it would be like to have multiple lifetimes to achieve because one lifetime did not feel like enough at the time. I was starting so far behind the rest.

Would I have more luck then? Would my parents be happier? Would the ‘weirdness’ of not being the same as my peers wear off? Would my mom finally agree to let me eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch? Would I finally have grandparents who could attend my school functions or pick me up at carpool? Could I finally go to a summer camp or at least stay with my parents for the summer?

The questions were limitless as with any child, but they were never regarding what I would be when I grew up, or where I would go to school. Those answers were set. Whatever was affordable. Disposable income was not a luxury we had. Knowledge of how colleges and universities worked in the United States, was not a knowledge anyone in my family possessed. No one had ever gone to school in the United States; therefore, my understanding of the system came from television, film, and the few conversations with a guidance counselor.

When I did finally grow up and graduated with my Masters, it was during the recession of 2008. So, I quickly left the United States. I needed a job, to unburden my parents, and I needed to pay off my student loans as soon as possible. I found myself working as a Naval Architect and accommodation specialist in shipbuilding in the Netherlands with projects and teams across Africa, South America, and Asia.

With all this experience I came back to the United States in 2022 to pursue my licensure. Now a mother myself but still a minority, at least I could now afford a few more luxuries. I was honored to attend the Women’s Leadership Summit in San Jose in 2022 as one of the Architects Foundation Sho-Ping Chin grantees. It was here that I heard many conversations surrounding demographics, numbers, and follow-up questions as they relate to the pursuit of Architecture as a profession. The one question that I was convinced I had an answer to was:

“Why don’t we see more female (minority) identifying architects? What is stopping them from taking their licensure exams?”

To me, the answer was simple. Why are we looking after university when most of us don’t make it to university? Our obstacles are different. Our priorities often lie elsewhere.

I immediately dialed to call the one person I knew would understand and could help make my dream a reality, the one person that I clearly remember standing up for me in life, being my support and helping me ‘fit in’ at school when I was so clearly different.

Our friendship story started, it was September 11th; we were in our classroom watching, on a roll away television, two enormous towers burning and crumbling in the middle of New York City. A fellow student sitting in front of me turned around to face me from their desk, “Aren’t those your people that killed all of us with the planes?”. Torrence stood up. “Why don’t you turn around and hush.” He asked the kid. Torrence turned back to face me, “Don’t worry, I got you.”

Nowadays our interactions, luckily, are less intense. Torrence graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and is active in our community already to help mentor young minds. My first call for help and to share my idea for making my dream a reality was to him.

We discussed what the idea was and to me, it seemed quite simple. I wanted to release the tension and take away as many barriers that I knew I faced as an immigrant growing up. Whether that was as large as what I would be when I grew up or as seemingly small as what I could do this summer.

The first was that the week needed to be fully funded. Caretakers and the participants should not have to worry about the expense for the week, this meant everything from the time they spend at the camp, the cost for the camp, the lunches, the transport. It all had to be covered.

The second thing I was really passionate about stemmed from my upbringing and what I have come to test and prove later in my work and personal life— good warm food brings people together. If I can bring the participants to the table for a healthy lunch, something they can recreate at home (we need to be conscious about food deserts and accessibility to nutrition), and put the mentors at the table with them; lol of this would set a comfortable stage for real impactful interaction.

The third point was that we needed to be there after the fact. When all is said and done, the participants need to be able to turn to their mentors and get help with anything from applying to colleges and universities to finding scholarships and grants to help them pursue their dreams. This one week could not be the only interaction the participants have with us.

These ideas were the basis of our non-profit: The 38|85 Initiative. Set up in Smoketown in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Initiative focuses on 4 main points to help remove the obstacles faced by minority, refugee, and immigrant kids looking at their futures. We believe that various combinations of these obstacles need to be addressed to bridge the diversity gap in Architecture, Engineering and Construction.

1. Provide a safe and engaging space where the participants and mentors can interact, discover, and challenge themselves.

2. The event not only has to be free, but we also need to pay the participants a salary so they can justify participating when their circumstances might otherwise not allow them to indulge in self-betterment and empowerment during the summers.

3. Provide free and reliable transportation to our events.

4. Provide warm, healthy lunches with food that the participants can easily replicate at home (and enough leftovers to take home).

All four points are covered by local providers, businesses, and entrepreneurs and to the greatest extent possible, by minorities from their communities; because when you see better, you can do better.

We were fortunate enough to be picked up for our inaugural year in June 2023 by Mayor Greenberg’s SummerWorks program in Louisville, Kentucky. We teamed up with YouthBuild Louisville to help us with funding and the ins and outs for providing this weeklong event.

The amazing team at YouthBuild and Summerworks helped us achieve so much more than we thought possible in terms of funding and opportunities. The cooperation and work we did together showed through the week of the camp and the weeks that followed. The participants were truly given the opportunity of a lifetime and all the volunteers involved felt the motivation and fun that was emanating from the group.

In the end, we sifted through over 40 applications this first year, interviewed more than 15 applicants and ended up with 10 participants with various hopes and dreams for their future, backgrounds and life experience.

Each morning started with an icebreaker. Getting to know the participants and building trust was key to developing a finished product at the end of the week. The family style, warm hour long lunches with the mentors further built on this trust because food brings people together. The participants actually put their phones down and communicated in the analog world. The interaction ranged from the mundane, to advice, to career possibilities, to hopes and dreams and even the occasional argument over participants that were picky eaters. Many laughs and breakthroughs came at this time.

Our community banned together to make this an unforgettable time for the participants. The Epping District provided the beautiful old theater in Smoketown for us to use, not only as a space, but also to teach about architectural history of the neighborhood, structures, and reconstruction of historical places. The House of Marigold provided a lunchtime cooking class and lunches for the entire week for the participants. As well as many volunteers and mentors that came out from the industries to support during the design process.

The participants spent the week designing and building models of their take on a collapsible shelter that included solar panels hooked up to an application of their choosing that best suited their design purpose.

They were split into two groups, two studios. Each with a clearly defined studio motto, name and logo. After that, the mentors came in for the week. Each morning was spent learning from interactive lectures from various mentors and work time in the afternoons. At the end of the week, the participants were nervous but ready to present to the many community members that came out to see what they had designed.

Team K.A.T. produced a shelter for homeless cats that had two working fans hooked up to their solar panel. The insulation was made from used water bottles they had consumed during the week and hidden in the floor of their model.

Team Homes for All created a tessellation of a modular home that could be expanded as the owners’ means and disposable income expanded. Their electrical wiring and rainwater collection system was cleverly hidden within the structural core in the center of their hexagonal shape. The solar panel powered the light used in the home.

At the end of the week came the words that I did not know I was hoping to hear but that drove everything home for me: “Ms. Taisa, I made that. Can you believe that? It works. I made that.”

Those words brought me right back to that little girl, in her room, dreaming up lifetimes. The realization that my small idea is a part of something much bigger that goes beyond a lifetime: it’s a legacy.

When we can come together to help one young adult achieve something, helping boost our level, share with them our passions for architecture, construction and engineering; we are creating a new world that will encompass lifetimes. Building a world where that little girl worried for her parents and wishing to taste peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, can get all of that and a memorable experience and mentor in the world of architecture & design.

Taisa Perée-Šehić, Assoc. AIA

Peree-Sehic works at McCulloch Associates Architects in Louisville, Kentucky. When PereeSehic isn’t at the office or mentoring, she is spending time with her daughter and partner, snowboarding and dancing Flamenco. She received the 2023 AIA Kentucky Emerging Professional Award and is a grant and scholarship recipient at the Architects Foundation.