Each year the talented students at Massanutten Technical Center (MTC) (https://www.mtcva.com/?fbclid=IwAR33Xupl6DyJEsNhr8Hp1mz4kLpFGsq8frswPGIytk4rsPo26pbMfyZV7go) have an opportunity to build a house. This is a wonderful way to learn all that it takes to put together a home. Massanutten Technical Center not only provides excellent hands-on education but gives students real-world experience at the same time.
Charles Hendricks has served on the MTC Foundation (https://www.mtcva.com/mtc-foundation) for a number of years and has had the opportunity to work in many ways to support the school. He loves that MTC brings so many resources to local students that want to learn a trade before going out into a career or continuing on at a University. This past summer he returned to teach in the architectural camp for middle school students. The quality of education provided at MTC makes our community better as these students have hands-on experiences that they will use for a lifetime. Charles says “I am always blown away by the quality of teachers and their passion for the students. Of course, the administration at MTC is also top-notch!”
The house this year will be sold through sealed bids. Gaines Group Architects is proud to have designed the current version of home they have been building now for a few years. It has an efficient and open floorplan, 3 bedrooms, and 2 baths. There is an optional stair for a full basement or that space could become a closet if your lot demands a crawl space.
If you are in the market for a new house, take a look at this project. The quality will be exceptional and the purchase of the house itself supports the students for years to come.
This month the Gaines Group had the opportunity to sponsor an event very near and dear to our hearts, Noche de Salsa 2021. This event was held by the Scholars Latino Initiative (SLI) featured a drive-through Latin dinner with margaritas along with a park and watch a salsa dance performance. SLI strives to create college opportunities for local Latinx students currently in high school through leadership coaching and academic mentorship. Scholars Latino Initiative also assists students financially by assisting in scholarship searches and dual enrollment programs through high school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY1UYo2zDNQ&t=1s
Since its founding in 2012 SLI has found that donation amounts have tripled allowing the program to grow and incorporate even more families into their organization. As of now, SLI has a grand total of 118 alumni that have moved through the program and continued on to higher education, their alumni have attended 21 universities such as Harvard, James Madison, Virginia Tech, and many more.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY1UYo2zDNQ
Those who attended discussed the feeling of community involvement as everyone gathered in a way that was not only safe but allowed us to feel a little bit of normalcy again. We could not be more proud of our community for coming out, having fun, and supporting SLI.
Our very own Deborah Smith has begun her leadership training through LHR here in Harrisonburg Virginia! Founded in 1979 this program strives to encourage aspiring leaders to grow in communication skills and encourage community involvement through monthly sessions. We are incredibly proud that our introverted architect survived a full day of team-building activities, and learned and retained more names than ever before thanks to the help of those games!
The first session of the program was held at Horizon’s Edge and focused on team building within the cohort and identifying qualities of good leaders and teams. The day was filled with group activities that helped everyone get to know each other and also taught lessons on communication, working in large and small groups and leadership. The activities ranged from rock, paper, scissors tournaments where everyone that lost had to cheer on the winners (Deborah won a round!), to building towers out of spaghetti and marshmallows (she also won!).
Throughout the duration of these activities, it was important to listen and understand the leadership style of every single person involved. While some were more naturally inclined to step forward to lead the group, others held back while still offering helpful advice on how to improve strategy. Overall these exercises proved just how important it is to make your entire team feel heard and appreciated, especially through group challenges. Afterwards, the teams sat down and reflected on their core values and discussed how vital small and large decisions can be to the end goal at hand.
I had the pleasure, for the second time this year, of attending the Young Architect virtual conference. This conference is different from most industry-related conferences as it focuses more on personal and professional growth rather than architectural materials and assemblies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvi2JOoAE0M
We learned about productivity tips and tricks, mentorship, personal finance, how to tackle procrastination, marketing, communication, and study tips and tricks. One particularly gripping keynote was given by Seth Davis, a recently licensed architect who advocated to run from your problems. His talk was about how he went from not running a 5k, to running a 50k in three months and the strength and determination it took to keep running. At one of his stops on his ultramarathon, he was advised by a nurse to “beware of the chair” as many runners would take a quick break and jump right back up, but those who sat too long might not make it to the finish line. This was a poignant reminder to not get comfortable, challenge yourself, and just keep running.
There were panels on architects making a difference, diversity, alternative careers, and designing a support group. One of the panelists on the making a difference panel was Andrew (Ace) Houston who is running for mayor of Seattle. He reminded all of us that architects have a unique perspective that is well suited for public service. Another panel featured a group of five young mothers from across the country who met during a virtual study group and who have continued to champion each other as they passed the exams, became licensed, and launched their own businesses. This was a great reminder that while balancing motherhood and a career can be tough, success is achievable, especially if you find like-minded people who can lift you up and encourage you to keep going.
The conference is made, however, by the networking events sponsored by Amber Book and hosted by Marli Williams. These networking events provide a unique way to virtually network with other professionals, and they work even better than in-person events for this introvert. At in-person events, it can be daunting to look at a room of people and try to determine who to talk to and how to introduce yourself. Marli takes care of that by giving prompts before sending everyone into breakout rooms of 3-4 people. You don’t have to figure out who to talk to, and you don’t have to insert yourself into a conversation, as the prompts allow time for each person to speak. The final networking event of the conference deals specifically with establishing goals and setting up accountability partners. This way, you can take the things you learned during the conference and apply those things to personal and professional goals. You are encouraged to take a screenshot of each room so that you know the names of the people you spoke with and can follow up with them later. Instead of exchanging business cards, all attendees are added to a directory that allows you to follow up with them on social media, or by e-mail. I have already added a number of people to my social media networks so that I can check in with their goals and stay accountable to my own goals.
Now that the conference is over, the learning doesn’t stop. The sessions are recorded so now I have the opportunity to go back and revisit sessions that were particularly helpful, or sessions that I missed due to work emergencies and childcare issues. I have already signed up for the 2022 Winter Series to continue on this path of personal and professional growth.
The energy and positivity of the diverse group of attendees are exactly what I needed to refresh and revisit where I am and where I plan to go in my career. I’m thankful for Gaines Group Architects who recognizes that the firm is only as good as their employees, and who sponsors opportunities for us to continue our education through conferences and in-person events like this one. According to Charles “We have to keep learning, evolving, and working on our craft and ourselves to best serve our clients.”
This past weekend The Gaines Group team had the privilege of supporting the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) through some competitive mini-golf. Everyone was thrilled to get out of the office and enjoy the sunshine while learning who could really talk the talk and walk the walk.
Architect, Deborah, wiped out the whole team and accepted the title of ‘Gaines Group mini-golf champion’. Marketing Executive,Matty, came in a close second, only knocking her ball into the pond once. Golf-pro/ Architect, Charles, came in third, not being able to back up his pre-game smack talk. And finally, Interior Designer, Maggie, shocked us all with a record of 3 shots into the waterfall with a final score of 78 strokes.
I have decided that this coming year I am going to do 365 intentional acts of kindness. Please join me in making our world a little brighter for others. #rocktownresilient #365actsofkindness
This year has been filled with a lot of negativity and challenges. On a personal level, I know I am blessed to have enough, maybe even more than enough. I did not go hungry. I have a home. I have stayed healthy. While work slowed tremendously for a few months our small business is surviving. While 2020 was filled with negative things, there were lots of silver linings and blessings.
The opportunity to work from home, spending more time with my girls this year, is incredible. I am still able to serve my clients and be with my family more than I ever imagined possible. The interactions I have had with friends this year have been special, whether through zoom or distanced in-person. Not having the ability to see anyone anytime makes the few meetings much sweeter. There have been so many positives in this year.
Finding ways to support others this year also has brought me incredible joy. Rotary Club of Rockingham County has not had in-person meetings since March and many of our service projects were cancelled. However, that did not stop our #serviceaboveself. I was fortunate to be able to deliver meals once a week to First Step on behalf of our club for a couple of months. I participated in a food drive for Our Community Place, cleaned up a highway, picked up trash along blacks run near Purcell Park, helped hand out food to Harrisonburg school families, and planted tulips at First Step and NENA Community Center. I supported local business by eating at locally owned area restaurants once a week at least and showing love to the servers and delivery drivers.
I also wrote positive online reviews for local companies, donated to local fundraisers and food pantries, purchased music and swag from local bands, and sent notes of appreciation to essential workers. I have tried to remember every day to wish a Happy Birthday to friends on Facebook and have sent out more thank you notes and gift cards this year than any other year before. I helped install solar panels at Eastern Mennonite School in a solar barn raising project. I found places to help others by creating online resources for home schooling, researched and published tips to make buildings safer, and created stress relief coloring pages. I also created amonthly young professionals networking group and hosted monthly education sessions for other architects. In order to support the local arts community I designed an outdoor stage that was used by both EMS and Harrisonburg High School.
I had not thought about all the good that these actions were doing for me until I watched this Ted talk that Nadia posted to Facebook.
So now after seeing this video, I am going to be intentional this coming year about putting #serviceaboveself. I will pledge to do #365actsofkindness over the coming year. Please join me and help spread kindness through the world and bring yourself happiness through action.
