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Sarah Rodriguez always knew that she wanted to study architecture in college, she just didn’t know where. After praying about it, she says, God made it clear that she was meant to attend Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.
“I didn’t really choose Benedictine College; God chose it for me. I really wanted to go to a big state school and was looking at their different programs, but I just fell in love with the idea of a classical program, so God kind of led me on the path of coming here,” she said.
Rodriguez sees the value in receiving a classical architecture education at a liberal arts college.
“There’s more beauty and meaning behind classical architecture — I love the tradition and the order of it all. Most schools tend to stray away from what has been working for hundreds and thousands of years, but we focus on the things that do work, and when you look at our buildings, you can see why they stand. We’re looking for the deeper meaning of it all, not how do you slap a building together,” she explained. “Not only is our program teaching us that, but the college is too. Our education as a whole comes together to teach us the real and deeper meanings in life, and in buildings.”
Although the college’s architecture program is a rigorous program, students appreciate knowing that their hard work pays off and is preparing them well for the future.
“Our professors actually care, and they want to see and push us to succeed. A lot of times, it’s very stressful, and we do spend a lot of time up here, but we do it for the betterment of ourselves and our work,” she said. “In the moment, we can never really say ‘thank you for doing that,’ but we can always walk out of our projects appreciating having been pushed, especially when we’re showing different firms our work and they’re amazed.”
After graduating, Rodriguez plans to attend graduate school to receive her masters, work for a residential firm for a while, and then hopefully start her own Residential firm one day.
