“Everything’s real here. In school, I’ll make a model of it — but here, it’s actually being built.”
— Kira Brueggeman, Architecture Intern
Learning by seeing it come together
Kira Brueggeman spent the summer turning her classroom ideas into real projects.
Kira has always been drawn to creativity. From building with Legos as a kid to studying architecture at SIU Carbondale, she’s fascinated with the process of bringing imagination to life.
And now, she’s seeing it firsthand as an architecture intern at The Korte Company.
More than models
Kira helped the architecture team review drawings, marking up designs and move projects forward in any way she could.
“I just kind of go around helping all the other architects with stuff — marking things up, looking through whatever they have for me,” she said. “It’s really nice just seeing what the culture of being an architect is actually like.”
The work was much more fast-paced and hands-on than her experiences in the classroom, and that’s what she enjoyed most.
Built to keep up
Compared to slower timelines she saw during a recent trip to Europe, the work here moves fast. The key is to always stay organized, even when decisions are being made at a rapid pace.
“They have a very fast but efficient pace here, which I really like,” she said. “Over in Europe, things felt slow. Here, it seems like they really have it together.”
That forward momentum has helped Kira grow fast. From learning new software to sorting through stacks of construction documents, she’s learned by doing — one task at a time.
A hard day’s work worth remembering
Not every day was easy, and that’s what made it worthwhile.
On her third day, Kira and two fellow interns were handed a massive job. They had to sort through more than 6,000 sheets of documents. It took focus, patience and teamwork.
“I’m pretty proud of myself that I was able to focus on it for that long,” she said. “It was hard, but we made it through.”
That kind of effort builds more than skill. It builds confidence that lasts long after summer ends.
Kira’s internship gave her confidence and perspective. She’s seen how her ideas fit into real projects and where she wants to go next.
Now she’s ready to keep building, bringing her imagination to life in concrete and steel.
