MUNCIE, Ind. --- Since 1965, the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University has been working with many different students and serving the surrounding community.
In recent years, the college has partnered with companies and organizations in more than 80 communities including Indianapolis, Selma and Muncie.
For just over 30 years Scott Truex, the chair of urban planning, has been involved in community outreach through CAP.
"Our students, especially the urban planning department, from the beginning of our program, are working in a context where they're getting to work with community members and learning about how real-world projects work,” Truex said.
Third-year student Grayson Cates also believes these immersive learning projects are beneficial for their future.
"We're not just sitting in a lecture learning about different aspects of planning, we're actually doing planning and learning how it actually works so that when we get into our careers, we've actually done things like it before," Cates said.
With set times, called studios, students like junior Martink Spink have the opportunity to learn outside of their traditional classroom setting.
“Our immersive learning projects are extremely valuable, especially the way that CAP is set up as a college because Urban Planning isn’t always done in such a design-oriented and creative space,” Spink said. “So having studio and faculty that are interested in design and in creative immersive projects is very helpful.”
Another junior urban planning student, Brenden Resnick, is currently working in the Fort Wayne community.
"We're going to be working with the community and seeing what they want to become of their neighborhoods and just see what the future is for them," Resnick said.
The goal of these projects is to create more opportunities for students while making a positive impact in real-world communities.
"Good planning is about that, it's about helping the community create a vision and then help them give them the tools and the opportunities to implement that," Resnick said.
Current CAP students aren’t the only ones staying involved in the surrounding community. Some alumni are still working in nearby neighborhoods.
Kristen Suding, a 2006 alumni, is now the owner of Inland Interior Design in downtown Muncie. Suding graduated with a minor in the CAP program, however, she says her time in the program was valuable in helping her get ahead in her career.
“I wanted to be able to walk into a room of men and say with confidence that I knew what went into those beams and the rafters and the electrical,” Suding said. “It was really important for me to take advantage of everything Ball State has to offer in their architecture program.”
Suding also mentioned she wanted more than just background knowledge on different architectural subjects.
“When I decided I was going to be an interior designer I wanted to have as much information as I could in those technical details that would make me more respected,” Suding said.
The full-scale interior designer currently has a storefront located at 109 E. Main Street in downtown Muncie.
While Suding is a full-scale interior designer she also has a storefront located at 109 E. Main St. in downtown Muncie.
Contact Rebecca Rosado with concerns at rrosado@bsu.edu
