Common Reading Reflective Essay

The “Promise of a Pencil” by Adam Braun, really captures the journey and experiences

that come seemingly out of nowhere and can have life-changing experiences; should we take the

leap to follow those aspirations? College was – in my mind – always an experience to achieve

higher learning while making connections and meet new people. There is so much more to the

experience, and overall, it's about taking a risk to venture not always into what we think we

know we want to do but to explore what we did not know we have a passion to do. I came into

college with no intention of joining a club or group because I knew how demanding my choice

of taking Architecture would be in my social life; not to mention that my skills in managing time

are little to none at best. However, after the orientation experience and reading the book, the

reasons for taking these courses or taking upon tasks or adventures is not for an immediate goal

at all. Being able to lose ourselves in passion, like Adam Braun does for his non-profit (rather

"for-purpose") organization, is the end goal and the decision/ choices we are making are not

always obvious or logical.

College is an important time to make friends and start becoming a part of an integrated

society outside of the campus bubble. I do not believe everyone is one hundred percent ready or

planned for college because it is designed to be unpredictable and it is meant to break the mold

we are in so we can shape ourselves. I, for example, have been tasked with a project in my

Studio Design class to build a model that represents a structure without clear instructions as to

how to build it, just the dimensions. From the start, it seems simple enough to build, but the

process becomes frustrating over time, and that's the moment I realized that this was not an issue

I was facing alone! even when others looked like they knew what they were doing. All of these

classes are designed to break the mold of what we thought we knew was creativity; to break off
the path that follows other people, to become spontaneous and unique. We must dig deep inside

our minds to generate something we would've never thought about before.

Similarly, the SAS trip Adam Braun took to see other parts of the world, I find to be a

frightening yet thrilling experience that can be amazing if I allow myself the opportunity. As an

aspiring architect, seeing the world is important to gather ideas and inspiring concepts, and

letting go of fear is the first step to achieving the dream. Just as Adam makes connections to

web-designers and contractors, pulling them into his organization by friendship and towards the

purpose of a common passion they built a new office building and website to reach out to gain

more donors and new connections to build new schools, and it becomes a domino effect. That is

the same feeling I have only started to feel as a student in Studio Design, where my peers and I

work together creating our own individual models but subconsciously pull together drawing

inspiration from one another enhancing our designs to achieve perfection and healthy

competition that will one day make all of us Architects.