Naperville Student Among AIA/NEI Scholarship Recipients

In conjunction with The American Institute of Architects, the Northeast Illinois Chapter of The American Institute of Architects has awarded scholarships valued at $4,000 to four students pursuing architectural degrees.

• Kristen Kotche of West Chicago, a student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, anticipates receiving her Master of Architecture degree in May 2015. Her goal is eventually to open her own firm, specializing in preservation and adaptive reuse projects in the Chicago area. She also would like to inspire young women to join the profession. 
• Lucille Sadlon of Cicero hopes to inspire people through architecture. She feels she could work in any setting, from urban to rural, or work in  historical restoration and preservation around the globe. The Kansas State University student expects to receive her Master of Architecture degree in 2017. 
• Taylor Schaub of Wood Dale is a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology and expects to receive her undergraduate degree in architecture, plus a minor in construction management, in 2017. She wants to “better the environment around me, including specifically being able to enhance living, work and leisure experiences by the inclusion of attentive processes and details.” 
• Rachel Smith of Naperville is studying at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, with an anticipated graduation date of 2016. She is particularly interested in environmentally sustainable design and technology. Leadership skills will be vital in such a new field, she said, so she hopes to earn a minor in Leadership Studies, in addition to her Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies.  

The chapter also selected a recipient for the $1,000 Arnold “Les” Larsen, FAIA Memorial Scholarship. This year, that scholarship went to one of the chapter scholarship recipients, Kristen Kotche. 

Larsen’s widow, Sandra Larsen, established the scholarship for students studying at the graduate level at the University of Illinois at Chicago or Urbana-Champaign in 2007. Les Larsen was a charter member of AIA Northeast Illinois and was an active member of the AIA at all levels. The DuPage Community Foundation administers the scholarship and the NEI Scholarship Committee reviews applications and selects the recipient.  

“Through these scholarships, we not only give a helping hand to the future of our profession, we also promote the profession of architecture as a whole. That’s one of our organization’s core missions,” said Scott Morlock, chairman of the Scholarship Committee. “We are pleased and proud to be able to assist these talented architects of tomorrow.”

With assistance from the national organization, AIA/NEI distributes the scholarships annually. The Naperville-based organization includes architects and those in related fields who live or work in Kane, DuPage and Kendall counties, plus the portions of Cook County north of the Stevenson and west of the Edens expressways, excluding the city of Chicago. For more information, visit www.aianei.org.