MSU Student Picked for National Scholars Program

STARKVILLE, Miss.–A Mississippi State architecture major from Olive Branch is among major winners in a national scholars program.

Aryn S. Phillips, a fourth-year student and 2011 Desoto Central High School graduate, recently took second place in the seventh annual Gensler Diversity Scholarship Competition. In addition to $5,000 toward her university studies, she will begin a paid summer internship at Gensler’s New York office next month.

A global architecture, design and planning firm, Gensler has awarded nearly $200,000 in academic scholarship to students and graduates over the last 15 years. Its scholarships are available to African American students enrolled in any U.S. not-for-profit educational institution.

Applicants also must be beginning their final year of study in a professional training program certified by the National Architectural Accreditation Board. For more, see www.gensler.com/scholarships.

“Winning the 2015 Gensler Diversity Scholarship and having the opportunity to intern with such a prestigious firm is a great honor,” she said. “This scholarship and Gensler’s investment in my architectural education gives me the confidence and motivation to continue to pursue my interests and further my career in architecture.”

While expressing appreciation to the Gensler organization, she also gave credit to the MSU architecture school faculty for providing experiences that enabled her success.

“We do a collaborative studio with building construction science and projects with both building construction science and interior design students, and that’s what Gensler is really big on,” she said. “It’s a global design firm; we do a little of that here, and that’s unique from other schools.”

For the competition, Phillips submitted a project designed in a studio class taught by assistant professor Alexis Gregory. Her entry, which received an honorable mention in class competition, involved a brewery, bakery, restaurant and ice cream shop that utilizes the recycle-reuse process called “functional symbiosis.” For more about the project, see www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=7023.

In addition to being encouraged by architecture faculty members, Phillips submitted the application to Gensler with a personal recommendation by school director Michael Berk.

Knowledge that classmate Larry Travis of Tougaloo took first place in last year’s Gensler competition was another factor in the decision to apply, she said.

“MSU winning twice (in two years) is pretty significant,” she observed, adding that “just seeing that makes me understand how well prepared we are through this program.”

Phillips said she also is enrolling next year in MSU’s nationally recognized cooperative education program that allows students to alternate between campus study and full-time employment at a business related to a student’s chosen academic field. Phillips said she will begin a year-long co-op with Ryall Porter Sheridan Architects in New York in September.

Following the required fifth and final year of architectural study in Jackson, she plans to pursue a master’s degree in urban design.

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