PROFILE
Introduction:
Hello, my name is Valerie Stetts. I am an experienced Architectural Designer and LEED Green Associate with a demonstrated history of working in the healthcare, hospitality, and residential industries. My foremost skills are Revit, BIM 360, AutoCAD, Bluebeam, architectural details and drafting, project management, critical thinking, and Adobe Creative Suite. I obtained a Master of Architecture degree from Kansas State University in May 2018.
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Summary:
I am originally from Williamsport, Pennsylvania but completed the majority of my education in the Montoursville Area School District before graduating from Montoursville Area High School in 2013 with two small music-based scholarships. While in high school, I held membership in a number of service-based clubs and societies such as Key Club, Rho Kappa History Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, National English Honor Society, and Tri-M National Music Honor Society. In addition to those societies, I held the title of percussion section leader in the marching and concert bands during my senior year.
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I began attending Kansas State University in 2013 where I threw myself into my work in the architecture undergraduate program. In 2013 I became involved in the student led chapter of AIAS at KSU as well as a program called APDPro; a professional development program hosted by Kansas State's college of architecture. I held membership in both programs for all five years. In the spring of 2015 I was initiated into the Gamma Zeta chapter of Alpha Chi Omega where I participated in a number of philanthropy events.
Fall 2016 marked my entrance into the graduate program at KSU, where I began a construction document-focused studio under the direction of three guest professors from BNIM Architects in Kansas City, MO. In 2017, I was given the opportunity to study abroad with other KSU architecture students in Orvieto, Italy for the entirety of the spring semester. In Orvieto, our professors coordinated a series of projects that included architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture, and product design for a mixture of architecture and design students. For our projects, we had little to no access to computers so the semester was focused on 'back to basics' which helped us hone our skills with hand drawing and model making. At the end of the semester, our class created a sequence of interactive exhibits and experiences as a way to give back to the community that was so hospitable to us.
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For my fifth year, I began a research-intensive architectural design studio under the direction of visiting professor, Jay Siebenmorgen of NBBJ's New York office, as well as the distinguished visiting professor; Fran Silvestre of Fran Silvestre Arquitectos in Valencia, Spain. This studio was designed to span the fall and spring semesters while its objective was to focus on group research and pinpoint any issues present in the Poblats Maritims district of Valencia. Students individually developed a new masterplan for the entirety of the district before choosing a building program and site to focus their efforts on. This last part was where students pinpointed an issue they wished to solve, designed a solution, and defended their rationales as part of their graduate thesis.
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In the spring of 2018, I obtained a Master of Architecture degree from Kansas State University's College of Architecture, Planning, and Design. Kansas State's NAAB-accredited architecture program is significant in that it is a five year, non-baccalaureate, Master of Architecture degree. In 2019-2020, the graduate architecture program was ranked 24th overall in the U.S. and 10th among public institutions.