Emily Olmstead has spent her time in high school pursuing two seemingly different areas of study: engineering and art.
The senior plans to study Architecture in college, and in preparation, she has followed both a PLTW (Project Lead the Way) Engineering track and an art one.
Pursuing both has allowed her to learn the of intersection of these subjects. For example, in her sophomore year, she took PLTW Civil Engineering and Architecture and she described how, “Revit (the civil engineering/architectural modeling software) is an art on its own because you have so much creative freedom, you are only limited to structural design.”
In the art realm at RHHS, she has taken Drawing 1, taking Painting 1 (at the honors level), and enrolled in Painting 2 for next semester.
In these classes, she saw the overlap of these two areas of study as well, describing how in her Drawing 1 class she used her experience from perspective drawing units in her engineering courses: “Going into Drawing 1 I felt more prepared because I know what Ms. Schnyder was referring to,” she said.
In terms of applying for colleges, the senior emphasized the grueling portfolio process that the majority of architecture schools require applicants to complete. Without a defined course that covers the artistic aspects required in such a portfolio, Olmstead has needed to do a significant amount of independent study as she curates her works.
“Creating a portfolio has been a really long and difficult process. I started from scratch this summer, and I learned five different art mediums along the way,” she said.
This process has been fulfilling for her nonetheless, and she hopes that any insight gained throughout her formal and self-guided education in architecture will prove useful down the road.
“I think all this work will be helpful though because many prospective Architecture students go into these programs blind I hope I will be somewhat ahead in knowledge.”
