WISE Scholarship Recipient Allen Reyes: A Hammer, Nails and a Blueprint for Life
The WISE (Woodbury Integrative Student Experience) Program grants $1,000 Tuition Scholarships to eligible students throughout the university each year. The program enables students to earn scholarship funds while gaining invaluable life experiences and compelling educational opportunities in four High Impact Practices (HIPS) — study away, civic engagement, leadership and internships, each applicable to emerging local and global communities.
For Allen (AKA Nani) Reyes, an undergraduate at the School of Architecture鈥檚 Barrio Logan campus in San Diego, architecture is a language, a means of communication that has served as his portal to the world. An L.A. native who grew up in Temecula, he鈥檚 among this year鈥檚 group of WISE Scholarship recipients.
鈥溾�橲ketch it out for me,鈥欌�� Nani says. 鈥淭hat phrase has echoed from my first architectural class to the first week of my internship. I鈥檝e always found it intriguing that architecture has the ability to be communicated in so many different forms, from the simple sketch to a few words. Thanks to WISE, I鈥檝e been given a hammer and a box of nails, and it鈥檚 up to me to build the walls for a strong career.鈥�
As he recalls, 鈥済rowing up has not been the easiest path for me. I was gifted with Asperger鈥檚 Syndrome. That made school a challenge — I competed with a less-than-ideal learning curve, academically and socially. As I鈥檝e gotten older I鈥檝e been able to turn those difficulties into gifts and use them to my advantage. Giving up or going down is not an option for me.鈥�
A self-described visual learner, Nani says verbal communication 鈥渉as never been my strong suit, so learning to read and talk through drawings is what made learning that much more exciting. Being able to continue this practice in the workplace has made me appreciate communication skills in all forms.鈥�
This past summer, through his WISE Scholarship, he interned at Walter Allen Architect & Associates, a firm in Old Town Temecula specializing in projects throughout the community, notably its growing number of wineries.
鈥淚 joined the team just in time to be part of the design and documentation of a new winery down the street from my home,鈥� Nani says. The day he started, clients approved the design. 鈥淢y duties were to be simple: produce a set of construction documents for a type 5 non-rated commercial building, following basic title 24 construction codes.鈥�
While somewhat familiar with construction documents, he says he was relieved to be working alongside a retired architect who ultimately served as his mentor. In adapting hand-drawn sketches using AutoCAD, Allen understood that Art, the retired architect, wanted him to do more than just copy the sketches 鈥� he wanted him to fully understand them. 鈥淚 began to appreciate the importance of asking questions,鈥� Nani says. 鈥淪eeking guidance became not a taboo but a sign of strength and determination.鈥�
It was Nani鈥檚 first bona fide opportunity to move from the theoretical to the applied, from architecture coursework to the real thing. 鈥淭hese were the same patterns and steps I had followed in the classroom, so with sufficient resources and aid I found I was able to contribute to the project as a professional, not merely as a student,鈥� he says.
鈥淎t Walter Allen鈥檚, I was trying to interpret the designer鈥檚 vision as a client would and turn it into a reality,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 was able to assemble a set of drawings that could be sent to our consultants in a timely matter, speeding up the time for permit submittals, moving the project forward more quickly than my employers anticipated.
鈥淚t gives me a great feeling of accomplishment to know that my name will be on the final set of drawings used for construction,鈥� Nani says. 鈥淚 began this internship with training wheels, but by the time the summer was over, I was able to ride without them. 鈥�