I chose architecture when I was at the end of high school. I thought I wanted to do accounting but realized I didn’t like that route and wanted to go into design instead.

I was always a creative person. I looked through a college catalog and saw all the different career offerings. I saw architecture and started exploring it.

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I went to a career day at a school near my house, met some architects there and one of them offered me an internship!  A few weeks later I started working at an architect's office, just to get a sense of what it was like even before I took any classes.

I worked there for a year.  My boss was a great teacher and mentor and I learned so much. Then I applied to college under the architecture program and I got in with all grants and scholarships.

I was there studying for five years and then graduated and got my license.

- Ilanit Maghen, Architect based in Los Angeles, California