A watershed moment
By: John Silva – February, 2015
Robert de La Salle elementary school was housed in an old three story brick building seventeen blocks north of downtown Chicago. As you advanced grades, you moved from the first floor to the third floor. It was a big deal to be on the third floor. The guys in my eighth grade January graduating class had all signed up to go to Lane Technical High School because Lane had an awesome football team and there were lots of fights. Lane Tech was one of two huge schools in Chicago. The enrollment consisted of five thousand boys and no girls.
I weighed a pitiful 97 pounds, and I wasn’t interested in football or fights. But, I didn’t want to be separated from my friends. So, I also signed up to go to Lane. Turns out, I loved to read and I was placed in an advanced reading class in seventh grade. Which explained why of all the boys that graduated that year, I was the only one admitted to Lane. Whala…a watershed moment.
Fast forward twenty years. Mr. Piper, one of my former teachers at Lane, (the one who almost gave me an F in my first architectural drafting class), had asked me if I would give a presentation at their career day on architecture. A lot of things had changed during those years. I had graduated from the University of Illinois majoring in architectural engineering, gotten a masters degree in education, ran the architectural and interior design departments at Triton College, and I was a registered architect in the State of Illinois. I was also married and had three kids.
At the career day, I brought some design drawings and construction documents and explained what architects did and didn’t do. A lot of people have the misconception that architects do a lot of house designs. Actually, residential projects are a very small part of an architect’s practice if they do them at all. Architects work with their clients to develop a list of needs and wants. Then, the architect creates a design that hopefully meets the desires of the client.
Sometimes, the designs are magical and whimsical and other times they are strictly nuts and bolts. Next the construction drawings and the specifications are completed. The contract between the owner and the builder is based on these very technical and detailed drawings and descriptions. Lastly, the architect makes visits to the job site and notifies the owner as to whether the building is being built according to the plans and specs. With the presentation given and the questions asked and answered, it was time for lunch. Only this time…I would be eating in the faculty dining room.
I couldn’t believe what happened next. When we entered the cafeteria, BAM…FLASHBACK! I was fourteen years old and a freshman. It was Friday, and I was back in high school. They were serving those tender, flaky fish cakes and melt-in-your-mouth mashed potatoes all smothered with that delicious gravy. The aroma that drifted into my nostrils hadn’t changed one bit in twenty years. I dug in.
After lunch, my mind drifted back to a scene that took place late in my senior year. Our entire division had been marched from our homeroom down to the counselor’s office without explanation. We were now standing in line…waiting. I had never been in a counselor’s office. As far as I knew, when you got into trouble you saw the counselor and he gave you detentions. But, then I thought we can’t all be in trouble…not all of us at the same time.
My turn came, and I went into the counselors office and sat down. He asked me what I was going to do when I graduated. I said, I didn’t know. He flipped through my coursebook, and said, you did really well in your architectural drafting classes…did you like them? I said, yes. He said, I should consider becoming an architect. I said, what’s that? ” He said “Its a guy that does architectural drawings…that’s his job.” I said, you mean I could get paid to do drawings? He said, Yep. And, in two minutes flat, I was done and out the door. In two minutes, some guy who I had never met before, had set me on a path that was going to change my life forever. I was heading down the Yellow Brick Road and off to see the Wizard.