Rebuilding south florida by learning

In an ideal world, like school, I’d have an answer for every question whirling about in my head right now. Instead, what feels like a million vague answers to these questions about how to rebuild after Hurricane Ian float about. My heart aches for my hometown of Fort Myers. This past week I have been debating about how to express my heartache, my desire…

PIWA’s Mentorship Program

A lot can be learned from a mentor, particularly one in a position you have yet to be in.  This past year I joined PennDesign’s PIWA Mentorship program. I hoped that I might learn something about the field of architecture and the internship search process that I hadn’t learned through my own research. My mentor was extremely kind, very available, and super helpful! I…

Petty’s Island Cleanup

Petty’s Island: https://nj.gov/dep/njnlt/pettysisland.htm Camden County Historical Society: https://www.cchsnj.org/ A well spent Saturday morning was recently dedicated to joining a clean up effort on Petty’s Island with a studio friend Miriam. This island is located between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Pennsauken, New Jersey. It is also positioned just across from our most recent studio design site. The cleanup lasted 2 hours with a team of roughly…

Penn Paints

Even in the busiest times there is room for a little fun. One of the loveliest happy hours was a Painting with Bob Ross. Despite this being a relaxing activity the shouts of stress when Bob Ross took off painting while Dental and Design students tried to catch up where an unexpected humorous touch. While none of us replicated the masterpiece in the youtube…

Penn Design Voices

There are many voices at Penn Design and plenty of outlets for students and professionals to express them. A few example outlets include: Babble, S.P.A.M., LA +, PennDesignzzz, and the new Stuart Wietzman School of Design instagram account. Of these platforms I have recently enjoyed the first publication of S.P.A.M. This witty publication, complete with crossword puzzle, capture the ironic attitude to utopic scholarly…

PAWS at Petsmart!

Over summer I volunteered with PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society) and loved it! I decided this semester not to give up on volunteering but to integrate it into my school schedule. In some ways I treat my volunteering like another two hour class. I transitioned from the Grays Ferry location to the new Petsmart on Broad and Washington. I was super excited to take…

PAWS-itively Adorable!

PAWS: https://phillypaws.org/ Every little bit of help keeps a smile on these cute little pets! Over the last couple months I have met several wonderful new people, lots of cuddly loveable four legged friends, and learned several skills in pet care. I can better handle a litter of kittens while cleaning up after them. I have learned to read dogs better and love taking them…

Volunteering: PAWS – Habitat – ESL

Between work and play I make time for help. This summer I chose to help by volunteering with three organizations: PAWS (Philadelpha Animal Welfare Society), Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia, and Center for Learning and Literacy. PAWS has three shelters. Each one houses a number of dogs and cats which you as a volunteer help care for. I have only been in a few times…

Halloween Happy Hour

Of the many Happy Hours hosted on Friday’s by PennDesign Student Government, this one was spooktacular. There were drinks, alcoholic and non, doughnuts, and pizza. A lively game of toss’n’score (commonly played at football games tailgates) going on right next to a large group of mingling students. Music in the background helped set the halloween feel as students chatted amongts the glow in the…