Dear Region of the Virginias Emerging Professionals,
Last month I spent five days volunteering at A’19 in Las Vegas, so I’m excited to share information on the events I attended and new programs that were debuted and review YAF updates for the year.
Young Architect Regional Director (YARD)
First, AIA Center for Emerging Professionals debuted a revamped ARE 5.0 prep course at A’19. The program is titled ‘ArchiPrep’ and will be available soon. There will be a monthly fee associated with this study program. The EP booth on the expo floor held a sudden death tournament where architects battled to answer the most questions correctly. The questions were formatted very similar to test questions, so I think this platform will provide a real glimpse of the tests ahead. Stay tuned for the release date…
The EP Booth also held an Advocacy Civic Leadership networking pop-up event that partnered experienced architects in civic leadership positions with interested emerging professionals. This was a chance for younger architects to ask pertinent questions related to how to get involved in their local government and AIA leadership positions. I’m also proud to announce that the Q2 Edition of Connection is out now, and focuses on Architects as Civic Leaders. I encourage you to read the article I co-wrote featuring a female architect in the Virginias Region serving her community in a City Council position. Her inspiring message is that all architects should be serving their community in some way. You can access the issue of Connection here.
YAF sponsored several intriguing seminars at A’19 that were organized and led by emerging professionals. “Mini-MBA: Mastering the Business of Architecture for Emerging Professionals” was a workshop that focused on the business side of architecture, a portion of our trade that many architecture schools do not cover. “Navigating Your Firm’s Culture” was another workshop that focused on assessing your own values and setting goals to strengthen your firm’s practice. I also attended seminars on interview prep, quality programs, BIM to VR, and exploring ethical dilemmas we face as architects. One goal of mine this year is to create a Workshop/Seminar Database so we can more easily bring these seminars to local conferences. As we share successful YAF programs among YARDS, it has become apparent that we need a better platform to share information among regional and local YAF groups. This will help give all components, no matter the size, the ability to see and share information with groups around the country. So many programs exist out there, and we’d like to eliminate duplicate efforts if possible. YAF is currently investigating utilizing a revamped KnowledgeNet page to share this information among local components. Hopefully, this will be up and running soon.
This only touches on a few things and as you can see, there is a lot of information out there if you are willing to seek it. I encourage you to get involved with your local YAF program. The resources and connections you can have are endless and priceless.
All the best,
Marie McCauley, AIA
Virginias YARD
