Author: Cassidy Coons
Cassidy is currently in her fourth year at Texas Tech University, working towards her Bachelor's degree in Architecture. She interned at Cornerstone Architects throughout last summer and again over the holiday break. Cassidy has been a wonderful asset to our team, providing support in all areas when needed while attaining a great overview on how our office runs. We wish Cassidy all the best during her final semester at Texas Tech!
What is it like to intern at Cornerstone Architects? I’ll go ahead and answer the biggest questions...No, I do not have to get everyone coffee in the morning! Yes, I somehow got out of telling my joke or singing a song on the first day (new employee ritual)! Yes, I am now a professional scanner!
Now that I got that out of the way, Cornerstone Architects has truly been one of my best experiences. I did the typical interning activities, such as using the (scary) scanner and creating floor plan brochures. These type of undertakings really helped me sharpen my AutoCad skills and learn that scanners are, in fact, not scary at all! I also did and learned many things that I did not expect. From attending weekly site visits to measuring and drawing my first electrical plans, I learned the "real life" architecture things that you just aren't taught in school. Even though I go to Texas Tech, the best college in the world, they still leave you with questions about architecture and how the whole process operates. I think my biggest curiosity coming into this internship was how everything functioned on the business side of things. Luckily, I had the opportunity to sit at the front desk with Paula (the office manager) on occasion and learn first-hand what happens behind the scenes! I learned a little bit about what it takes to keep everything running smoothly in the office, including answering phones. I would love to take this moment to thank Cornerstone for building my confidence and destroying my awkwardness all at the same time, because at first answering those phones was terrifying!
Aside from what I learned and how I’ve grown, Cornerstone Architects truly showed me what it should feel like in a work environment. The members of the work family here are the most welcoming people I could have asked for going into my internship. Everyone was willing to teach me something new or answer my super simple questions. I couldn’t have asked for better people to be put into my life for my first big girl job experience!
So, being an intern at Cornerstone is so much more than I expected it to be. Thank you to everyone for the best internship I could’ve asked for! Thank you for this hands-on experience I’ll never forget. Even the days I stood at the scanner for what felt like 9 hours at a time were worth every minute.
I’m even more excited to continue my path in architecture and become a licensed architect in the future because of my experience at Cornerstone!
Not a dull moment was spent here and I’m glad I got the chance to sign my emails as Ping (Cassidy)!