Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Grassroots 2010

From July 22-25, a group of Clemson AIAS cabinet members journeyed to our nation's capital to participate in the 2010 AIAS Grassroots Leadership Conference.  The students had a blast while also gaining new knowledge to bring back to our chapter, school, and state.  Below is a short reflection from Clemson AIAS President Stephen Parker as well as a few shapshots from the conference taken by Stephen, Lindsay Yarborough, and Daniel Hutcherson. Enjoy!


 the students with the architect of our nation's capitol building


The 2010 AIAS Grassroots Leadership Conference. Quite a mouthful, right?  That was my thought a year ago when I attended for the first time in 2009.  Grassroots, as it is lovingly called by those who have attended, is much more than a leadership conference.  We encountered the other AIAS chapters from across the nation and even farther abroad such as Canada and Kuwait.  Some were rival schools, some we'd never heard of, but we all came together as AIAS members.  We kicked off the conference with an awesome tour of the Capitol Building with none other than the architect himself, Stephen T. Ayers, AIA.  We heard great speakers such as Michael Roykind, whose work seems out of this world--literally!  Who builds an orange bubble of a building??

But most of all, the other AIAS chapters were awesome.  We hung out and saw how each chapter was different and what they were up to.  With nearly 200 chapter leaders attending, talking shop with the kids from LSU or chilling with the Canadian kids from Ryerson University is what results.  All these students have been in studio and know that the life of an architecture student is a sleep-deprived, exacto-wielding, CAD-ing world like no other. We bond over line weights and drinks, show off our chapter's t-shirt, and play practical jokes during roll call (sleep? that's for engineers!).  Each morning we'd blast the other chapters with an amazingly loud Clemson cadence count, while Detroit Mercy sings in three-part harmony and that kid from FLW Taliesen West puts Sinatra to shame.  At night we roved up and down DC, taking in the nightlife that such a city has to offer.  To say we had a good time wouldn't do the photos justice.  Those of us at Grassroots say: What happens at Grassroots...


the girls at the freedom by design build day-they built a table for a low income home!
 
 they got a chance to see how it feels to be disabled and take a tour of the city


For more info on Grassroots and how to get involved with AIAS visit http://www.aias.org/grassroots/ or contact Stephen Parker at stephenparker23@gmail.com

1 comment:

Unknown said...

grassroots looks like fun!! i can't wait to hear more about what everyone learned!