From Syracuse to Guatemala: A Week with From Houses to Homes

A friend of mine recently posted a quote that really resonated with me. It read:

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

- Neale Donald Walsch

I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty dang awesome, and pretty dang relevant. It's been an amazing year so far, and I'm extremely lucky and thankful for what I've been able to do the past five months. I've lived four months in a foreign country, taken on more responsibilities in all facets of my life, and - as I've said before - I've generally said "yes" to more things than I've said "no" to. 

This past week I was fortunate enough to spend time in Antigua and Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala with five of my fellow students, my professor, and his wife. Remember that post about Escuela Kemna'Oj? Well this is the sequel. 

Now let's back track a little bit, it's fall semester of my junior year and my professor's just told us about this opportunity to work on a project with this group called From Houses to Homes. In order to participate, all you had to do was email a short paragraph expressing your interest in the project. Let's put you in my fram of mind: you're taking eighteen credits, you have two jobs, and apparently you're a masochist. You're too busy for another project, and besides, you probably won't get it right? On second thought, it's just a paragraph - why not give it a go?

If I could go back in time, I'd hire someone to clobber me for ever doubting myself. Luckily for past and present me, I wrote the email. Now here we are, nine months later and I still find it hard to believe I made it. The work's been done, the hours have been put in, and I've seen the results up close and personally and it's all because I took that small chance last August.

Honestly, it's hard to put into words just how much we were able to do in our short week in Central America. Most importantly, we were able to conduct our post-occupancy study of the school itself and how our designs have impacted the lives of the children who go there everyday. While many details of our design weren't ultimately implemented, it was great to see what was used and how effective those choices were. We spoke with the teachers, viewed each of the spaces, and got feedback from our harshest and most important critics - the students themselves. 

Don't be fooled by their adorable faces...they're a tough crowd.

...Right.

On that note, there's nothing more fulfilling than seeing something you were a part of in action. More specifically, seeing how much joy it can bring someone. Our first day in Santa Maria de Jesus was emotionally taxing in the best way possible. At 9 AM, Oscar, the general contractor for the school as well as From Houses to Homes picked us up at our hostel. We all piled in to the back of his pick up truck and headed towards Volcano de Agua and Santa Maria de Jesus, unsure but completely enthralled to see the school we'd so vehemently worked on back at Syracuse. 

Once we'd driven over the river and through the woods, we arrived in Santa Maria de Jesus. The town itself was quite run down, with nearly all of the buildings constructed from concrete block and unfinished rebar and only a few facades brightly painted. Then came Escuela Kemna'Oj, right between the center of town and the start of farmland, with it's bright orange and red walls standing high.

We'd finally made it, and after a short introduction to the school, Oscar took us inside. Quoting my professor, it was like heaven just fell there in the middle of town. I haven't been able to find better words to describe it. 

Walking through the entrance and into the cafeteria was so surreal. Seeing the built version of something that, four months prior, I'd only imagined on paper was incredible and overwhelming. We continued our tour of the school and made our way to the courtyard...wow. Hidden inside the concrete walls and classrooms of Escuela Kemna'Oj and Santa Maria de Jesus was this beautiful oasis:

Shout out to Lex and Jess's beautiful railing design!

It was here that we got our first taste of how much the school had impacted the students as they bombarded us with greetings and love. One after another, and sometimes even in clusters, the students of Escuela Kemna'Oj embraced each of us with giant smiles plastered on their faces. It's hard to put into words just how amazing that felt and I can honestly say that I've never been in the presence of so much collective joy in my life. It's awesome to know just how happy they were and still are in their new school. 

After our day of conducting our post-occupancy study, we set to work to improve the school just a little bit more. In our discussions with the teachers and students, we found that many of the children had little to no concept of where they were in relation to Guatemala and the rest of the world. Armed with our creative skills, three days of work, and the money we'd raised to donate to the school, we decided to paint two murals - a map of Guatemala and a map of the world. 

 

Needless to say, I had an amazing time in Guatemala. While we experienced so much more than the school during our time, the highlight was certainly being able to spend time with the children of Santa Maria de Jesus (we'll save the rest for another post, another time). 

I'm so thankful to have been able to see this project through as far as I did, and even more to have been able to experience it the way the 124 students currently enrolled do...in person. The school turned out to be so much more than I expected, regardless of what parts of our design did or did not make it into the final product. That being said, it is far from total completion with many small tweaks required and numerous supplies still lacking. While we can't be there to completely see it through, I can speak for all of us when I say we'd like to do everything we can to make sure it gets completed. 

If you have some spare change lying around the house, under the car seat, left in your coat pocket, you get the gist...visit From Houses to Homes website here and make a donation. If you live in the Syracuse, NY area, stay on the lookout for collection jars at Cafe Kubal (which will be going out soon) or contact me to hear about other ways you can help.

Anyway, it's kind of crazy what happens when you stop making excuses and start taking chances, huh? 

And with that, I'll leave you with these adorable, amazing, truly inspiring faces:

                                      

Cheers!

A Weekend According to my iPhone

The main arch in Antigua, Guatemala •

Bougainvilla Flowers everywhere • Fountain in Parque Central • Looking up at Volcano de Pacaya •

Overlooking Guatemala City from the plane home • View from the boat on Lake Atitlan •

Colorful crowd watching a street performer in Antigua

They Call Me a Working (Wo)man

Now that I've had a few days to recover from a whirlwind of finals, last days in London, flying home, and extreme jet lag, I've started thinking about my plans for the summer. With a bit of disappointing results after a full-blown internship hunt, I've decided to take the summer to work and get my things in order. And let's be honest, studying abroad in London really did a number to my wee little bank account. Let's not even talk about it.

Anyway, I'm more than excited to be starting at the cafe again. Yes, I'm that girl who legitimately wished she could go to work while she was abroad. I know, I have a problem, I've been told. But hey, there's nothing wrong with absolutely loving your job. Plus, who couldn't love a job where you make coffee all day? Am I right? Even better still, I'll be working full-time hours...a thrilling proposition for someone who has dreams of opening her own coffee shop someday. That's another topic in and of itself, though.

For now though, I've got some really exciting ventures to juggle around. With classes out and finals done, I'm psyched to really get into my thesis/Capstone research. Growing up in a family chock full of teachers and educational administrators, I've always valued the importance of a good education. For the longest time, I wanted nothing more than to be an art teacher (after all, my high school art teacher helped to shape the outcome of my life so far). For many unfortunate reasons, I decided against that career path my freshman year of college. But hey, I'm absolutely in love with what I do now and have absolutely no regrets.

Even as an interior design student, I've kept this interest in education alive and well. (Check out the amazing project I was lucky enough to take part in here). Naturally, when choosing my topic for my senior thesis, I wanted to focus on how we can improve the quality of education through the creative arts. I've started reading up on "right-brained" thinking, as well as current educational systems and theories and I've got to say, I'm pumped. And of course, I can't wait to share what I'm gathering from it all with you...but alas, we'll save that for another post, another time.

On top of thesis research, my amazing boss has given me the wonderful opportunity to do design work for the newest, upcoming location for the coffee shop I work at (see why I'm obsessed here). Upon my arrival back in the states, I found out that we'd be opening a kiosk/shop in Hancock International Airport in Syracuse, NY. While the new location is opening up this coming week, I'll be working on the design for the merchandise section of the shop. It's absolutely thrilling to be able to know that my design for the space will soon be seen by jet setters from all across the country. Needless to say, I'm extremely lucky and absolutely elated to have such a great opportunity.

Speaking of jet setting, I'll soon be up in the air one more time. Just as soon as I arrived in the states, I'll be heading out again to Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala. After the quickest four months of my life, I'm finally going to see the school five classmates and I did design work for last semester. I'm still in awe of the fact that we're even going, but the closer it gets to departure, the more I look forward to seeing the school, the country, and most importantly, the children using the building.

Until next time!

From Houses to Homes: Guatemala

¡Hola design world! Let me start by apologizing (again) for completely falling off the face of the planet for the past months. It's been a whirlwind of a semester - not that it's any sort of an excuse for my absence. There's so much to update on but there's one aspect of my life that I'm really excited to share with everyone.It's been a semester full of opportunity for me, and I'm feeling truly blessed to be able to participate in it.

Way back in early September, Syracuse University alumni, Maureen Baker, approached the interior design department looking for a group of students to work on a real-world design project. The project was to help design a Montessori style school for the New Jersey based organization From Houses to Homes (check out the school under the "education" link). The school, called Kemna'Oj, is currently being built in Santa Maria de Jesus, a rural village just outside of Antigua, Guatemala and is scheduled to be completed in April of 2013.

At the beginning of this project, I was excited to participate in a project that would actually be applied and built. As a design student, it's very rare that any project I design would ever be constructed. Now, with the project nearly at its end, my excitement stems from so much more. What I've come to realize over the past few months is just how much of an impact design can have on those who inhabit it. It's one of those ideas that, as a student, you're aware of, but really have no idea how true it is.

In Santa Maria de Jesus, the literacy rate is at a meager 69% and of the few children who attend school, many don't make it past second grade. What Kemna'Oj will do is allow students to attend the school completely free. With the nearest public school being about an hour away, this is a coveted opportunity for most children.

The Kemna'Oj Design Team from left to right: 

Lex Struble, Erin McCarthy, Meghan Thomas, Me, Jessica Greenlaw, Emily Groemmer

Now for the part where we step in...

Starting off, we had ourselves a full program. We not only were tasked with designing the entire interior of the building, but also most of the furniture within it. After months of tirelessly putting ourselves into this project, we came up with a solid, cohesive design for the classrooms, cafeteria, and courtyard of the building which fueled the design decisions in the secondary spaces.

We took the idea of a huipil (traditional Mayan garb seen above) as well of the name of the school itself, which means "weaving minds, weaving knowledge," and created an overarching motif of weaving, diamonds, and thread. The diamond motif was first established in the courtyard and hallway railings. These elements referenced the diamond pattern seen on Santa Maria de Jesus's huipil. You'll also notice a sculptural string element located in the cafeteria as well as the entrance of each classroom. This element gives the school an identity as well as serving as the identification of each grade (the threads are different colors for each grade). Obviously, this was a very brief summary of our design intents and processes, but I'd rather you see the results than me describe them (:

Upper Level Classroom

Pre-K & Kindergarten Classroom

Courtyard Area

Cafeteria

I'm so proud of these renderings and all the effort that exists behind them. The team I worked with faced numerous challenges from language and measurement barriers, to changing deadlines and time shortages. What's even more thrilling is that we'll soon be able to see our designs come to life. With construction underway (the roof of the building went on just a few weeks ago!) we'll be seeing images of color and life coming into the building very soon.

Most spectacularly, drumroll please...

...the six of us will be going to Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala in May to do a post-occupancy study. I still cannot wrap my head around just how truly blessed I am. Being able to design the school was enough of a blessing in the first place, but actually being able to see it is beyond what I could ask for. Not only that, but I'll be able to see just how much of an impact the school will have on the children who attend Kemna'Oj.

And on that note, I'll leave you with these amazing faces and a little video: