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Architecture major Alyssa Drain, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, plans to stay in the Boulder/Denver area to pursue design and architecture opportunities before attending graduate school. 

Good luck and enjoy each step of the journey! I look forward to seeing updates on where life brings everyone and how they use their talents in the world.

What inspired you to come to ENVD?
The poetic and abstract yet systematic approach to problem-solving during various scaled design processes that subtly blends art, design, engineering, and science. The constant interplay of different fields to find design solutions to problems made me absolutely curious and excited to apply myself.

What is one of the greatest experiences or lessons from your time at CU Boulder that you'll carry with you into the next chapter of your life?
The importance of creating a sense of community with classmates and/or friends. Creating a supportive network around you, especially within ENVD, becomes vital in its entirety and even more so during high-stress times like midterms and finals. We create positive competition between one another- learning, teaching, and guiding each other.

Based on what you know now, what is your best piece of advice for other students?
Clearly lay out incremental goals for yourself–in school courses as well as our personal lives. Doing so makes that mountainous goal more achievable and enjoyable during the journey of reaching it.

Favorite memory?
Attending the Urban Analysis Rome Global Seminar in summer 2019 with a small group of ENVD students and professor Marianne Holbert. Â鶹ÊÓƵing new corners of the city by foot every day that held such dense ancient history, real-life sketching architectural monuments, becoming closer with fellow students, and everything in between is memories I will always hold close.

What does graduating from college represent for you?
A milestone in absorbing and earning higher education by working smart and applying myself as well as an opportunity to display and apply skills and capabilities learned through the experience of undergraduate.

What are your plans beyond graduation?
My plans beyond graduation are to stay in the Boulder and Denver area to pursue design/ architecture opportunities before attending graduate school in the following year.