The Pink Elephant In My Path
Angela King
Licensed 2016
We avoid the “elephant in the room” and sometimes discuss “eating the elephant one bite at a time.” Both expressions are more than appropriate for the gargantuan task of becoming an Architect. For me, it was a pink elephant slowly consumed over my first 33 years.
My journey to becoming an architect was actually pretty linear from school to working in design firms to architectural registration exams. I think it is for most. Architecture is not really a profession one falls into. It’s a calling. It starts perhaps with legos or seeing plans in books or passing by construction sites. Some are fortunate enough to know an architect. For me, it was a mix of my relationship with space as a child and my father the mason. I was exposed to both drawing sets and construction sites as the daughter of a bricklayer. I am a daddy’s girl and, as a kid, wanted to stay up under him all the time. While I had no desire to actually do what he did, I was utterly fascinated with the plans he worked from to build the homes. The idea that one could envision space on paper and then construct a building out of it was magical. My career choice is perhaps also a nod to the lego sets that I played with that equally kept my attention.
Friends from middle school that, prior to my becoming licensed, would every now and then ask me when I was going to design their house, were a persistent reminder of my calling. My recollection of these early conversations with my peers is limited, but clearly my desire to be an architect made an impression into our adulthood. So it’s with my upbringing that I reference this aberrant pink elephant that all who grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee are familiar with. I left for college at 17 almost 18 and never returned other than to visit. I will parse the full story, but let’s just say I made it to my present with a lot of prayer and perseverance. Little girls with childhood stories like mine don’t grow up to become Architects. So on the day that I took my first exam, far from home, the pink elephant returned to me.
Seven years had passed since I graduated college and I was just a handful hours shy of completing my IDP experience requirements when I scheduled that first exam. I (over)studied for six weeks. It was Contract Documents and Services, what most considered, the easiest. I have a tendency to over do/think stuff and well for this very critical step, the making of the dreams of a little girl…naturally I overdid the study part. On the day of my first exam, a dear friend drove me the hour to the testing location so I could go through the note cards one last time. Needless to say, I was quite the ball of nerves as we pulled up. Then, the pink elephant appeared. Not the exact one from my childhood, this one was large and pink and had similar oversized black rimmed glasses. The difference between the two was the one before me had a martini glass hanging from its trunk. Given the moment it humorously seemed super apropos. What this pink elephant symbolized for me is the realization that those little girl dreams were about to be achieved. It was a little piece of home and a reminder of where I am from and just how far I have made it. I am not supposed to be here at this step and yet I am. My nerves were gone. When I emerged from the testing center, confidently victorious, the pink elephant was also gone.
I went on to pass four more exams (PPP, SD, SPDx2, BS) over the following five months. It took a couple more years to complete the next two BDCS (3x’s) but more specifically Structural Systems. That one took seven attempts. There were times I started doubting myself. I didn’t have any more pink elephants or some other sign randomly appear. Just me and my determination. My last and successful attempt at SS, I didn’t study. I had more than over studied by that point and was a walking bag of nerves and random structural factoids. I have social media posts over the years to attest! Instead, I rested in the days before my last ARE exam on December 20, 2016. There was nothing particularly special about that day. While I was less nervous, I did not emerge with any confidence that this time was finally a pass. A week or so later (holiday delay!), on December 29, 2016, I received that 4am PASS result after two and a half long years of testing.
Dream claimed.
And yes I did wake up everyone else in my house with my vocal celebrating!
—————
Read more about the Tennessee pink elephants here or here.
Connect with Angela here. ///// Share your story of getting licensed.