Journey to Here - Part 1

I went to my first hockey game when I was four years old. We had just moved into the house that my dad built in August. My sister was just an infant. It was a Friday night and I was bored and wanted to go somewhere or do something. I asked if we could go to my aunt’s house, my grandma’s house.. anywhere. Eventually my mom asked me if I wanted to go to a hockey game.  I agreed quickly and then thought to ask “what is hockey?” She explained that it is a game on ice and I think that was probably all that I cared to hear. She had gotten tickets to the local AHL team from a co-worker for a game that night. We dropped my sister off at grandma’s house and were off to the rink.

I was hooked. From that point on we went to several Capital District Islanders games a year.. as many  as I could convince my parents to bring me to. The years went by and I learned what the game actually was and became obsessed with hockey. Time went by and we started going more and more to the local college (where my mom worked) for their Men’s Division 1 games. I was in awe of the college kids and the school. Since my mom worked there, if I was accepted to the school I would be awarded free tuition (and my dad promised me a car when I graduated in return!). I promised myself as a first grader that I would be going to RPI and I would be one of those college kids at the games (and getting my free car).

From first grade on, I was a loyal RPI fan and promoter of the school. I devoted myself to my schoolwork so one day I would get into RPI. Honestly- this was my main motivator for doing schoolwork all the way though graduation. It is a private school with a lot of nerds so the GPA/SAT scores are relatively high. I needed to make sure I would get in!

From elementary school on I knew that I wanted to do architecture (after I went through my vet phase- once I realized that a vet has to deal with sick animals and even put some down I knew it wasn’t for me). My dad is a carpenter and general contractor- I had grown up on job sites and helping him and loved it. I was the kid that sat in church drawing floor plans and sketching. I have notebooks full of these drawings and couldn’t wait to get to RPI to study architecture in depth.