Meet our Summer Intern

What are your future goals?

In the future I hope to enroll at UT Arlington after two years of community college. I’m hoping to get a job as an Architect/Urban Planner and work on facilitating the creation of pedestrian friendly spaces. By interning at AD EX, I want to gain some exposure to the workspace of architects as well as insight on what they do and the process they go through to finalize projects and designs.

Who inspires you the most and how have they made an impact on your life?

My inspiration stems from a variety of things, such as YouTube videos, art, buildings, and people. I have a lot of inspirational people in my life who I owe many thanks for shaping me into the person I am now. The most inspirational person must be my mother. Growing up as a child to immigrant parents is rough, with sky high expectations and more traditional ideologies, it’s no surprise that things get difficult. But, despite how aggravating it can be, I feel like I can always rely on my mom to get me through the most difficult situation. My mom was the only girl born to a family with seven children. She had to be tough to tolerate her numerous brothers and to handle their difficult living conditions. She passes down her resilient attitude to me and my siblings and helps us get through hard times by cheering us on and giving us albeit long, but invigorating pep talks. Without her, I don’t think I’d even get the chance to intern at AD EX, or even learn about my interest in architecture. She’s a beacon in my life and I owe her a lot.

Are you passionate about a particular topic? If so, what is it?

I’m very passionate about pedestrian friendly design. Often my parents would go on and on about how scary America is, even though they’ve probably had to deal with famines and pandemics back in Nigeria. It always puzzled me what they were so afraid of and then I stumbled upon a You Tube video where a guy went on a rant about why he hated Houston. It was entertaining hearing him tear apart America’s urban design, but it was also very informative, and helped me understand my parents worries. Most places in America are designed for cars instead of people. It explained why crossing the street was unnerving, why walking less than half a mile to school gave me anxiety, and why I preferred to stay inside on my phone instead of going outside and talking to people. I think everyone should get familiar with walkability; it leads to better lifestyles for people of all ages. I believe it deserves more attention and that it would be beneficial to practically every neighborhood in America.

Thank you to JHP Architecture/Urban Design for sponsoring Cindy’s internship with us this summer.