From Curiosity to Clarity: Isabella Gaetan’s Summer Mentorship Experience at FK Architecture
During a one-day job-shadowing and mentorship experience, Olympia High School rising senior Isabella Gaetan gained a closer look at the interdisciplinary problem-solving behind architecture and a stronger sense of the impact she hopes to make one day through design.
For Isabella, architecture already represented a future filled with possibility. Interested in sustainable architecture and urban design, she came to FK Architecture eager to learn how ideas become places that serve people and communities.
During her job-shadowing experience, Isabella spent time with members of FK Architecture’s design and planning teams, gaining an inside look at the collaboration and technical thinking that shape the firm’s work.
Her morning began with mentorship from Sabrina Marano and Amy VanderMeer, who introduced Isabella to current projects and the design team's day-to-day work. She also explored the digital programs architects and designers use to bring concepts to life. Isabella then joined an FK Lunch & Learn, experiencing another way team members share knowledge and stay connected to new ideas across the profession.
In the afternoon, Shawn Reed guided Isabella through land planning and landscape architecture, including providing an introduction to Giraffe, the firm’s planning and design technology. The experience revealed how early site decisions, amenities, topography, and circulation all influence what a project can become.
“I learned a lot of things during my time at FK Architecture, but one of the most important was that architecture is a lot more than just designing pretty buildings,” Isabella said. “I started to view it more as a massive puzzle with many intricate details and problem-solving elements.”
That insight came into focus as she observed the complexity behind structural challenges and site organization, particularly on projects with varying elevations. For Isabella, seeing those decisions unfold in practice made architecture feel more dimensional: a field where creativity must work in concert with planning, coordination, and real-world constraints.
The visit also underscored the value of an integrated design practice. Isabella was especially interested in seeing architects, landscape architects, and interior designers working alongside one another.
“I love that the job requires both teamwork and communication while also allowing people to remain independent and focus on their own areas of expertise,” she said.
For a student considering her next steps after high school, the experience strengthened rather than redirected Isabella’s ambitions. She left even more motivated to pursue architecture, with a growing interest in affordable housing and the role thoughtful design can play in supporting communities.
“An important personal value for me is being able to pursue a career I am passionate about while also doing good for the community,” Isabella said. “Being able to see the architectural plans and drawing sets for the buildings that became a reality was something that amazed me and strengthened my passion for architecture even more.”
At FK Architecture, mentorship is an opportunity to make the profession more tangible for emerging designers. By opening the firm to students like Isabella, FK helps connect classroom aspirations to the collaborative, detailed, and community-minded work that goes into the built environment.
As Isabella looks toward college and a future in sustainable architecture and urban design, her day at FK offered an important reminder: the path to meaningful design begins with curiosity and grows through opportunities to learn from those already shaping the world around us.