Graduating from a school of architecture and commencing on a career in the field can be a frightening experience or perhaps in some cases it can be a warm, welcoming time in one's life. Darwin's theory of evolution comes to mind when thinking about beginning "the architectural internship". Darwin's Theory of Evolution is the widely held notion that all life (or architects in this case) is/are related and have descended from a common ancestor (or professionals in the trade). You go from being top man on the totem poll as a senior in college to swimming in the ocean of architecture where the common goal of staying afloat to survive becomes a priority. In my mind there is more to it than just the architecture portion. There is a certain balance in work, life style and time management that are also part of the big picture called internship. The term "Natural Selection" comes to mind when thinking about advancing within the profession from IDP to ARE. Those who make the effort and strive to advance will, and those who coast along and do not put in the effort can fall behind. I have seen both cases in my internship where some of the young architects struggle to grasp concepts and others pick up on them rather quickly.

It is an internal drive for many individuals to succeed that makes an internship successful and not a forced path of action that pushes you to do things you are not ready for. Working for an architecture firm that embraces young architects and encourages them to become involved in the local community, strive to improve their individual weaknesses, and boast their strengths to others, that have been an invaluable part in my internship. The Intern Development Program has created a standard learning requirement for an intern to follow that teaches organization and time management and also requires an individual to acquire a certain amount of learning units in different areas of architecture. The way I see it is that there is more to it than logging hours in a journal to achieve a certain status. It is important to gain exposure in all fields of architecture from schematic design to project completion, but at the same time it is just as important for an individual to be able to comprehend this information and know why it is happening in a particular order. Learning from the mistakes and from the good decisions that were made when put on the spot is priceless information. This information is invaluable and eventually becomes the stepping stones to becoming a well rounded architect as well as a mentor and role model to others.