For the last six years, a small firm has invested itself in a lost community in Illinois where economically, there is little to support new growth. By inspiring the residents and enduring the trials of the struggling community, the firm aims to move the town in a positive direction through volunteering their knowledge and through excellence in their work.

For precisely those reasons, I approached the principal, asking for an internship position they did not have available. After adamantly expressing it would not be an investment in a future full-time employee, I waited.

He took the risk – with three anxious interns ready to learn from the architect who inspired them – and asked nothing in return. “We can only offer you $7.50/hr,” he said. “You don’t deserve that – you’re worth more – but that’s all we can afford.”

Honesty. I knew it had to be good for something.

This small firm not only embodies what architecture should be because of the gracious, honest, and passionate work they create, but because of their commitment to us - interns. In a conversation I was once told, “You need to remind us what it’s like “down there,” because once you’re an intern, you forget what school is like, and once you’re a professional, you forget what internship is like.” However, it’s precisely the people like those with whom I work that remind us otherwise. The principal hasn’t forgotten what it’s like to be an intern. In fact, as a professional in his fifties, he is still an intern, regularly calling on the mentor who taught him. What most architects often forget is that interns will only repeat the mistakes they are not taught, and if the profession does not actively work to support architectural interns, they will ultimately aid in the deterioration of the profession.

In the same respect, we as interns can fight for our rights and for the future of the profession, but if we do not actively seek and support those who are fostering lasting relationships with interns - those who are strong mentors and who understand the responsibility professionals have for the education of interns - we will loose these invaluable resources. Why aim to completely redefine what an architectural internship should be, when littered about we have examples of successful, prosperous mentorship between practitioners
of all ages?

Any thriving mentorship can illustrate how it’s simply about nurturing a relationship: the intern stimulating thought with innovative techniques and the architect inspiring with knowledge, passion and expertise. An honest investment - that’s what an architectural internship should be.