Assignment #1

I decided to take this course for a number of reasons. Ever since I first found out about Auburn's Rural Studio Project (website listed below), I immediately wanted to become involved in something similar. This course appears to be that "something similar". I hope to obtain more clarity with the situation surrounding poverty within the community, how we, as students, can create positive changes, and hopefully create a sense of community that people are proud to be from. As a G1 Architecture student, I come in without a thorough knowledge of my area of study. This course, I imagine, will help me in conceiving of a real idea of what real world issues are that we, as designers, are having to deal with and the politics that are intertwined within the communities that we are hoping to inspire. I think that this project will help me comprehend a lot of the background work that goes into a project that no one sees and often times goes under appreciated.

I hope that this course will help me in defining my career path, more specifically if low-income community design-build projects are an area that I want to look into further. 

I don't really think that I have much expertise to bring to the table; however, I do have a small fraction of experience with community service and involvement. I helped Auburn students at the Rural Studio with the Akron Boys and Girls Club II and have a very very small understanding of what kind of work and dedication goes into a project like theirs. While there, I could see how important their work was for the community, yet in spite of that, the community seemed to look at them as more of a nuisance than anything else. The students told me how they had to start having a guard dog sleep in the building overnight so that things would stop being stolen. This understanding, while a pessimistic one, I think will aid in reminding oursleves that sometimes people don't know what's best for them, so hopefully we can lift the veil thats covering their eyes.