School is all about building blocks—learning new things every year and building upon that knowledge to grow. It’s about putting the right pieces together and building toward a future and life beyond high school. That’s exactly what Churchill High School junior, Katie Griffith, is doing.
“Well, my main interest I want to do in college is interior design, and architecture is a big part of interior design,” said Griffith.
She’s currently enrolled in the Architectural Design Pathway at Churchill. It explores the development, engineering and designing of building structures.
“I really like to build stuff, and I knew they did 3-D models and Sketch-up and Autocad,” said Griffith. I really wanted to learn how to do that.”
While Griffith enjoys architecture class, that’s not the end game. Her goal is to be an interior designer, but the lessons she’s learning now are building toward that goal.
“By using Sketch-Up, I was able to see the dimensions that were needed from an architectural standpoint: how thick the walls need to be, how high the ceilings and the doors need to be,” said Griffith. “I am able to take that into my into my interior design career and see that these are what the requirements are, and these are what I have to fit so that I can design my plan and colors around that standpoint.”
The goal of the program is to give these students the building blocks to build their careers once they’ve left our campus.
“It’s almost like an entrepreneur class in a way because you get to create and show people what your designs are,” said Griffith. “She’s teaching us more of the entrepreneurship, creating our own ideas on paper and drawing and sketching. So, that’s been really cool and eye-opening.”
Griffith is a virtual student this year and says her teacher, Michelle Stedman, makes sure every student, whether online or in-person, is getting the most out of the class.
“I enjoy the fact that she makes us respond to her questions. Since I am a virtual learner, sometimes it’s really easy to isolate yourself,” says Griffith. “So it’s really nice that she makes us respond and really incorporates both in-person and virtual students in the same way.”
To learn more about the CTE pathways at Churchill, click here.
