March 21 Entry — Are You Available This Week?

Bay View Academy is my alma mater. It is an all girls Catholic PreK-12 academy in Riverside, East Providence. I attended from age 4 to 18, which is called being a “lifer.” Bay View was formative to say the least, inspiring my ambitions beyond high school. It was a rigorous educational environment where excellence in grades were held high and extracurriculars were encouraged. While a lot has changed since I graduated in 2019: faculty turn around, enrollment and class size, and culture, I remained connected with my physics teacher Mr. Goodwin over the years, checking in with each other annually. During a visit to talk about the ACE (Architecture, Construction, and Engineering) Mentor Program last October, I met the new environmental science and biology teacher Ms. O’Connor, a new hire who was passionate about educating on topics of sustainability. She also was familiar with the RISD Architecture and Landscape Department.

When thinking of communities to engage for my thesis, I instinctively thought of Bay View students. There is a recognized lack of licensed women and minorities in the architectural profession- partially due to the educational pipeline to architectural educational practice and partially due to discriminatory working conditions that push women out such as the wage gap. Bay View is a unique case because it is an institution led by and composed of women who are actively seeking to strengthen their exposure to and normalize entering STEAM fields. My impression, based on my graduating class, saw a predilection toward biological science such as public health, nursing, occupational therapy, and psychology and less representation from the arts, physical sciences, computer science, mathematics, and engineering. Meeting with this group of high school students offers an exciting chance to share my work and demystify studying architecture in a fun and low-stakes setting.

I initially emailed Ms. O’Connor in January and a follow up cc’ing Mr. Goodwin in February.

We scheduled a lesson planning session on March 21st to determine dates, waivers, and how to cater the workshop to the students. Based on their availability, I visited during the “WIN” time, which is a 30 minute period dedicated for students to make-up tests, meet with clubs, and study.

Additionally, they asked if students could come to the meeting. At the time, I hadn’t considered sharing my work publicly yet, but I was on board. It felt ‘meant to be’ how it suddenly came together- forefronting student and faculty voices from the onset of the workshop development. I could ask to hear their thoughts, academic and personal interests, and skills. I had been a bit caught up in the “boring” planning and behind the scenes work; I forgot that collaboration through ‘sistering’ and transparency were central to the ethos of my project. I didn’t have to organize alone; in fact, I shouldn’t. Putting down stakes pushed me into action, preparing to present the most concise and comprehensive version of my thesis to non-architecture trained individuals for the first time.

On the morning of the 21st, I got picked up at 10am. Bill was at Primetime. We stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts on Route 6, I went inside and ordered ½ dozen donuts.

I arrived at 11:30 at Ms. O’Connor’s classroom on the third floor. She had a free period and helped me rearrange the desks and chairs into a makeshift blob of a circle. I explained that I’m not a teacher or traditional guest speaker, and didn’t want to be perceived as one.

At 12:12pm, students trickled in and filled the seats. I passed around a stapled packet of my project overview and agenda. After walking through the presentation, I asked the following questions: “What brought you to this meeting?”

LILY GUCFA, RISD ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT, SPRING 2024