Hi, everyone. I am Ruth Wondimu, an architecture and geography double major. And this past summer I did an internship in [INAUDIBLE] [? Ethiopia. ?] And my presentation is called Learn then Experience Architecture. 

So this pat summer I did an internship at an engineering and architecture consultancy firm called Reece Consultancy. Initially I looked for internship through various online resources but I was unable to attend one. So I had to go through [INAUDIBLE] Connections, which is how I found this. The reason that I chose to do an internship in Ethiopia is because I am from Ethiopia. And one day I'd like to go back home and then work there and be able to live there. But I needed the educational experience so that I can [INAUDIBLE] to what I learned here and then [INAUDIBLE] there. 

So on the first day of my internship, I sat down with my boss and went through employee materials. And this is a rendering that I did for my final project and my digital design test. And then when he looked at this, he asked me various questions such as, what are the materials used that and what is the structural design for it? And where are the beams? We did think of that in our design class. But then we thought of it. And this is done where we would access to steel and other kinds of materials that would hold on to this building very well. 

But then he explained about how we don't really have the financial resources and the material access to the different resources that I have put up here. And then he explained to me about even if we had the financial flexibility from a certain kind, we would not have that resource accessibility. 

So I got there with an education here at Mount Holyoke that [INAUDIBLE] in an ideal world and with good resources. But then I have to learn how to integrate my knowledge and try a new set of [INAUDIBLE]. So this is what he had emphasized on my education. Skills, skills, and skills. I did have some skills because I did a digital design class and then we had learned Illustrator and Rhino. But then the softwares that they were using were AutoCAD and [INAUDIBLE], so I had to learn those. 

Initially I was struggling. But then, as I progressed, I was really good at it that they were actually giving me projects [INAUDIBLE] residential housings, and more. And then I was really progressing in those. And this was also one of the projects that I [INAUDIBLE] that I did for them that was incorporated into the proposal that they had to give. And I was very happy to be a part of that. 

And then after my skills were [INAUDIBLE] in 2D design, they wanted me to progress onto 3D modeling. And there I was able to start on projects. Initially they were very box-like and I needed to learn more skills. So I progressed into curves and others. And after they found out that I was really progressing on my 3D modeling skills, they put me on research. 

This was the most exciting part of my internship. I was very happy and very devoted in every minute of it. It was a church project. The firm usually does a lot of cathedrals. They're just very big [? ring ?] in Ethiopia where they're building very big cathedrals [INAUDIBLE]. So this was a church project. It wasn't a very big cathedral, but it was a modern size church and then he had given me the liberty to work on it because it was one of their smaller projects. 

So I received instructions to modify the floor plans and the presentation details. So I went to other cathedrals, church sites, and their construction sites, and then studied the history behind them. It was a combination between modern and traditional design [INAUDIBLE]. 

One thing that I learned is that this is a very interesting story where you see the circle on the church cross. So I didn't see the need to have a circle on a cross. What was the need to have a circle on a [INAUDIBLE]. It takes away from-- it's looking like a cross and people being able to identify that that is a church. 

But then during my research I found out that this circle is meant to symbolize an ostrich egg. And ostriches are very well known to take care of their eggs and the eggs are very strong, [? those ?] [? chicks ?] are very strong. So that is meant to symbolize how the church really takes care of its people and how the people are very strong in their faith. So I was about to eliminate one of the most important points of a church. So research is very important. 

And then this is a very rough sketch of what my boss gave me as a floor plan. It was more circular. It has history behind it. Each and every section of the church is very important. And I had to learn what each meant and how each was worked on. So after learning each of them was very important, I was able to sit down and then come up and then come up with a cross-shaped church. I thought the cross would be very well because of aesthetic reasons. But I also wanted to make [INAUDIBLE] no problem with making it a cross from a circle. 

So I went over my design. And then I provided it to my boss. And he said it was OK. He put some modifications onto it. And then we went on with that design. 

3D rendering, I had to fight through it. It was a lot of work because I spent a lot of time on different designs. This was the final 3D picture that we had. I used [INAUDIBLE] because it had its modern history as well. So I wanted to [INAUDIBLE] and [INAUDIBLE] that as well. 

And then I went onto final video rendering. My other students that were doing internships there were very skillful, so they were doing various video rendering [INAUDIBLE] and then [? participated ?] on that. So it's [INAUDIBLE] but it was one of the most exciting things that I had [INAUDIBLE]. And you can see my church there. And it's actually located on top of the mountain as well so it was very exciting to do an exact replica of what it will be. And here's the cross coming in [INAUDIBLE] because when you see it from a helicopter [INAUDIBLE], you can see how the cross is there. And there are birds. And here's my ostrich egg. 

So after going through all of that on my internship, it has tremendously impacted my future plans. I was reading-- my plans have not changed. I've always wanted to go into grad school. But [INAUDIBLE] tell me that I need more education in terms of [INAUDIBLE] education I want the work experience education that is very different from what I learned in school. So I need [INAUDIBLE] work experiences, internships in other fields to [? test ?] [INAUDIBLE]. 

So in conclusion, this internship has grounded my experience [INAUDIBLE] one day go back home [INAUDIBLE]. Thank you. 

[APPLAUSE] 

Question? Sara Ann. 

Did you have to model the mountain as well [INAUDIBLE]? 

Lumion, the software that I used [INAUDIBLE] and it's very easy to do that. [INAUDIBLE] Lumion. Lumion. 

Lumion. 

Yeah. So basically there's this flat surface and then you can put a cursor on the ground and then you can form just various mountains and hills and everything. There are also some sample models that you can use as well. [INAUDIBLE] 

Yeah. It's like, I just started to like know about this major. Like I know that yearly-- this is a general question. Like yearly the architecture major requires an education of five years. But do you feel capable to do some internship like with your current knowledge [INAUDIBLE]? 

The thing that I will tell you is that I was very scared that my skills were not [INAUDIBLE]. But then once [INAUDIBLE] know how to find information. Even though we don't know it, we know how to find it. And we would actually go through [INAUDIBLE] knowledge to get certain questions answered. And it's very helpful and I'm very grateful for [INAUDIBLE]. 

Thank you. 

[APPLAUSE]