In 2019 I had just been accepted into the interior design program at Iowa State University and was a student leader at St. Thomas Aquinas in Ames, IA. I was approached later in the semester about redesigning the student lounge. I was on a team with a professional architect, interior designer and other resident parishioner volunteers. Since I was the only student on the team, I was leading to make sure we designed the space for the students that would be using it. I started with sending out a survey to the students to see what they wanted out of the lounge and then from there chose the color scheme and interior finishes. We went with a more modern color scheme and added in some Iowa State hues. We wanted the furniture to be flexible and added a variety of table top and lounge spaces. The process was stalled due to COVID-19 in the spring of 2020 but was picked back up in Fall of 2020. I worked alongside a campus minister to raise money for the lounge and get students involved with it. We created a t-shirt fundraiser and exceeded our goal of $2,000. We had many zoom meetings, emails, student feedback, and other barriers but as of October 2021, the lounge is complete! This space is so fun, bright, and really reflects the students and faculty at STA. It was an honor to serve the community, work with talented people and gain a very real world experience in a space I use myself!
