Darden Architects hosted a one-day session for high school students.
Central Valley high school students were given full access to experts in the field of architecture.
Those with an interest in potentially pursuing the career path were invited for a free, one-day "Summer Session" at Darden Architects in Fresno.
You may not be familiar with the company name, but you'll definitely recognize some of their design work, including Juan Felipe Herrera Elementary, Gaston Elementary and Kerman High's academic and administration building.
Tatum Custer just graduated from Buchanan High School.
She's headed to UC Berkeley in the fall.
She discovered her interest in architecture after her dad pointed out her knack for noticing beautiful buildings.
"I like windows, when walking downtown or around buildings. Ooh, that's a good window. He said, maybe that's something you should look into in -- architecture," Tatum said.
Thursday, she took part in hopes of gaining more knowledge about the industry and speaking one-on-one with people in her future career path.
"To just be able to ask someone a face-to-face question is really invaluable. It's something that you can't really Google," Tatum said.
Tony Avila is the Managing Principal of the firm.
He says they created the "Summer Session" in hopes of inspiring the next generation to get into the field.
"So we don't see a lot of kids going into architecture because they don't really understand what it is. We just want to give them an idea of kind of what it is and hopefully inspire some of them to do architecture," Avila said.
Students were given an overview of what architects do, a tour of the building along with employee meet and greets and in the afternoon, they were going to be hands-on for a project.
In addition to the summer session, the company gives out scholarships to college-bound students majoring in architecture.
"We do a lot of work in the Valley, and we want to continue to support our Valley. We want to continue to get good people and hopefully, that boomerang effect brings back into Fresno," Avila said.
Tatum is one of the scholarship recipients.
She says after her time at UC Berkeley, there is a chance -- because of Darden Architects -- she will return to the Valley to begin her career.
"I'm excited to be kind of branching out from my local area, but at the end of the day, when, especially when you have great businesses like this and great connections like this, it does make it really compelling to come back and kind of work for your own community that you grew up in," Tatum said.
The firm has had so much interest from students that it is hosting three summer sessions this year.
All of them are currently full, but if you have a student who is interested in architecture, keep Darden Architects in mind for next summer.
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