Francine Velasco was calved successful Dubai, a metropolis known for its innovative and ambitious architectural projects. However, she doesn’t callback the glitz of skyscrapers, luxury malls oregon towering hotels. Instead, she remembers that her household shared a cramped flat with different Filipino migrant families.
Despite their worldly struggles, her household valued possibilities. Her parent was the archetypal to be college, supported by her grandmother’s enactment abroad, portion her begetter overcame poorness and periods of homelessness to gain a assemblage scholarship. This perseverance shaped her journey.
Eventually, they immigrated to the United States, settling archetypal successful Rhode Island earlier making their mode to Fresno, wherever her parent promised a brighter future. When Velasco received a afloat assistance to Fresno State, conscionable similar her begetter earlier her, she realized this was the aboriginal her parent had envisioned.
At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 17, Velasco volition postgraduate with a bachelor’s grade successful architectural studies and a insignificant successful sociology astatine the Lyles College of Engineering commencement ceremonial astatine the Save Mart Center.
“My parents are truthful arrogant of everything that I’ve achieved, including graduating with honors and a scholarship,” Velasco said. “Education has ever been truthful important to them, and I’m truthful excited to commencement moving aft graduation.”
Velasco began attending Fresno State successful 2021 arsenic a Smittcamp Family Honors College Scholar. Initially unaware that the architectural studies large was caller , she networked astatine section events, seeking retired professionals for shadowing, mentorship and plan advice.
The summertime earlier sophomore year, she taught herself basal machine drafting done Revit and CAD to support up with her upper-division classmates. By the extremity of the year, she won archetypal spot successful the American Institute of Architecture San Joaquin Competition against 35 different students successful the region.
Velasco was tasked with conceptualizing a occurrence presumption and producing cardinal deliverables specified arsenic level plans and elevations. To execute this, she spoke with firefighters to recognize the challenges they look successful their existent stations and stitchery insights connected however the facilities could beryllium improved for greater efficiency.
That aforesaid year, she became TETER Architects and Engineers’ archetypal architectural intern successful the Central Valley. In this role, she has worked connected nationalist lodging projects, K-12 campuses, nationalist infrastructure, backstage developments and energy-efficient buildings.
“Converting a bid of motels into affordable lodging was 1 of the archetypal projects I jumped into, and it was truthful absorbing due to the fact that I was acquainted with the underserved areas,” Velasco said. “I didn’t expect to enactment connected thing truthful large truthful soon, but it felt bully to bash thing for the community.”
For her elder thesis, Velasco reached retired to Project Rebound to research however architecture tin enactment rehabilitation. She interviewed formerly incarcerated individuals and designed a conceptual situation analyzable focused connected healing and reducing recidivism. For implicit a year, she poured her efforts into tract analysis, situation archetypes, 3D modeling and drafting, culminating successful an oral presumption for the honors college. For Velasco, the astir rewarding portion was sparking conversations and raising consciousness astir situation reform.
“Francine has grown immensely, not conscionable successful her method and plan skills, but successful her assurance and clarity of vision,” said Michele Randel, architectural studies programme coordinator. “Over time, she’s developed a beardown architectural dependable rooted successful intent and empathy. She present approaches projects with a thoughtful equilibrium of creativity and practicality, and she has go idiosyncratic who considers the broader societal and biology impacts of design. As a aboriginal professional, she is good connected her mode to becoming the benignant of designer who not lone designs buildings, but shapes communities.”
Outside of the classroom, Velasco serves arsenic president of the Fresno State American Institute of Architecture Students and antecedently held serviceman positions with Camp Kesem astatine Fresno State and the Sustainability Club.
Additionally, she has dedicated her clip to volunteering with organizations specified arsenic Apache Closet, the Art of Life Cancer Foundation, and the Smittcamp Family Honors College, each portion moving arsenic an instructional pupil assistant.
Last winter, Velasco expanded her architectural acquisition overseas by visiting London and Paris. Through grants and scholarships, she was capable to sojourn architecture and buildings that she had ever dreamed of seeing.
“It was truly amusive to spot and comparison the aged architecture to the modern buildings we spot present successful Fresno,” Velasco said. “I adjacent got to spot The Shard successful London, which is 1 of my favourite buildings of each time.”
Velasco is presently studying to get her Leadership successful Energy and Environmental Design Green Associate certification, which is the archetypal measurement to becoming a nonrecreational successful greenish gathering practices.
After graduation, Velasco volition modulation into an architectural decorator relation with TETER Architects and Engineers. She plans to prosecute a master’s successful architecture, past instrumentality to the Central Valley to assistance signifier a much accessible, sustainable and socially liable built environment.
Velasco hopes that her communicative volition animate companies to put successful Fresno State students and that the architectural studies programme volition proceed to expand.
“My position connected architecture has changed. I felt similar increasing up, particularly successful tiny towns similar Sanger and Fresno, you don’t truly spot a batch of architecture and you don’t truly recognize it successful the consciousness that it’s thing that should assistance you,” Velasco said. “Now I recognize that I person a accidental to bash thing impactful.”
