You Have to Have a Plan
Date Posted: May 13, 2019
Posted In: Workforce,
From Washington University’s The Source: As a kid biking the streets of Kinloch and Ferguson, Mo., Ryan A. Wilson was drawn to construction sites. “I loved looking at buildings,” he recalled with a smile. “It was always fascinating to see things go up. It’s kind of in my blood.”
After earning his bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, in 2013, Wilson joined HOK, the St. Louis-based firm co-founded by fellow alumnus Gyo Obata, who earned an architecture degree in 1945. He spent the next two years working on Parkview Tower, a new 12-story facility for Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
“I was part of the information modeling team and responsible for producing construction documents,” Wilson said. “It was a great opportunity, right out of undergrad.”
But professional experience is just one requirement toward Wilson’s ultimate objective: earning his architecture license. And so, in 2015, he returned to the Sam Fox School’s Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design as a Chancellor’s Fellow and master’s candidate in both architecture and construction management. “It was all part of the plan,” he quipped. “I’m very goal-oriented.”