Kathleen M. O'Donnell

I was fortunate enough to be accepted to Macaulay Honors College. I came from Pennsylvania, and being accepted to Macaulay and CCNY was huge for me because it allowed me to move to New York. I came to CCNY to study architecture, and I found an incredible diversity of opportunities. Being at CCNY steered me in a different direction; I learned that I wanted to do more than just study architecture. I studied international studies and minored in journalism and theatre, but I still kept in touch with the world of architecture. I satisfied every aspect of my curiosity in one place. I held multiple internships while I was in college because I had many class options as an international studies major. I wanted experience in media and communications, and I went outside of the school environment to gain exposure to those fields, which led to me securing a job in New York. A year and a half later, I moved to Washington, DC. I decided that I really did want to work in architecture. I worked at the American Institute of Architects for five years as a program manager and in communications. I worked at the 2018 AIA Conference on Architecture in New York City. I was reporting on a panel session about public engagement, architecture, and public space design. My first architecture professor from CCNY, Fran Leadon, attended that session. I went up to him and said, 'Fran, I don't know if you remember me.' He did! We discussed writing and architecture. It was a full-circle moment. Even though I left New York, I still carry with me my architecture studies and how those segued into a career in architecture communications. Today I work at a large architecture firm that's headquartered in New York City, even though I'm based here in Washington, DC. It's all connected in this really fun way. I give CCNY a lot of credit for that. CCNY is a place where you can go in a million different directions, and all of them will be rewarding. I would highly encourage students to keep that in mind.