Paladin

Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: City Style

Media Credit: Jorge Ramos [Click to enlarge]

The Interior Design Department presented an Interior Design Alumni Student Panel Discussion in the F Building at the LAC on Tuesday, Sept. 9, as part of Juliana Edlund's Interior Design Careers (ID 20) class.

The six panelists were former and current students who have successful careers in the industry. Edgardo Caceres, Ken Balaski, Rick Glass, Sherry Snopgrass, Cheryl Ringel and Eileen Jewell spoke to the mostly first-year interior design students.

Edlund hosted the event and asked questions about each panelist's experiences in the industry. The professinals provided insight about everything from getting a job in the industry, professional attire, salaries and trends in the field of interior design.

The six panelists came from different specialties of the interior design field representing firms, including: Gensler, HFS Concepts 4, McNally Lighting and Morrey Construction.

Edlund said, "Today was a panel discussion from interior design students and alumni discussing various interior design careers."

Panelists explained that a typical day might include tight deadlines, general office duties, client contacts and production duties like computer aided drafting, browsing specification books and illustrations.

They also spoke about their own experiences when interviewing for positions and how they got their positions. Most mentioned the LBCC internship program as a main source for getting a job.

Balaski, an alumnus and lighting specialist for McNally said, "I think it's good to give students the opportunity to be exposed to the variety of careers that are available to them."

Trends in the industry were another topic of discussion, including, clients demanding tighter deadlines because of upgrades in the technology, seeing more use of the computer program Ribit 3D, being environmentally conscience, and companies having niches and specializations.

Caceres overcame a number of challenges to reach his goal of working in the industry. When he first started in the program at LBCC, the Peruvian couldn't read or speak English and he was visually impaired. Caceres has a background in architecture from Peru but gained his interior design knowledge at LBCC. He graduated from the interior design program at LBCC with high honors and currently is an interior designer at Gensler.

Caceres said, "I want to see myself like a visionary for the concept on a project."

When asked how the experience was today for him, Caceres said, "Exciting. Many memories, same classroom, same furniture."

The students were very attentive, took notes and asked questions. Student Sophia Smith said, "Seeing them was inspirational. It showed me the hard work that I put into the program will benefit me after I graduate."

Out of appreciation for his experience at LBCC, Caceres wrote a check for $250 to help the interior design department.

Edlund said, "We're going to start a new scholarship, the 'Edgardo F. Caceres Scholarship.'"

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