ALUMNI HIGHLIGHT ALEXIS STYPA (’16) Designed to Succeed: Alexis Stypa Alexis Stypa flourished academically, professionally, and socially during her four years at AMU, and she is now reaping the benefits of a solid undergraduate education: admission into one of the nation’s top graduate programs in Architecture. After graduating in 2016 with a major in Humanities and a minor in Mathematics, Alexis began a three-year Master of Architecture professional degree at the University of Notre Dame. “Even though I had no architectural background, the intensity of classes at Ave, and juggling various jobs, was a good way to practice for life at Notre Dame,” Alexis shares. While an undergraduate, Alexis was enrolled in the Honors Program, named to the Dean’s List, and a member of the President’s Circle. She was also an Intercollegiate Studies Institute Honors Scholar. She worked as a Resident Assistant in the halls, and participated in many extracurricular activities, including Students for Life, Genuine.Feminine, and a variety of student clubs. She also completed an internship with Andrea Clark Brown Architects in Naples, Florida, and she worked as a Design Assistant for BOXHILL Design in Tucson, Arizona. Notre Dame’s program involves an intensive three-semester foundational sequence of studio, history, theory, and technology courses, followed by two semesters of studio work in her area of concentration—classical architecture and new urbanism. Her studies culminate in a final semester dedicated to a terminal design project and public defense. Her favorite course so far has been Architectural Design, a studio class that typically lasts four hours. “It’s where all the creativity happens,” Alexis explains. “Everything is done by hand at this point in our education; I use my ruler to measure out everything, from the fridge to front porches.” Her program emphasizes handdrawn over computer-aided drafting, since it lends itself to greater creativity. Even though the work is sometimes tedious and often goes long into the night (she is expected to draw all her designs onto watercolor paper and render them with watercolor paint), she derives great joy from it. “It is such a joy to be up late at night drawing and painting. Everyone in my studio is happy to be at Notre Dame, studying what we all love. There is a great working atmosphere.”
a v e m a r i a m a g a z i n e | s p r i n g 2017
Alexis just finished up an assignment that is part of a program her professor has proposed in response to the refugee crisis. The project offers sustainable and humane housing solutions. “For the second phase of this project, my studio had to invent a type of townhouse that was suitable for Greece, and that retained classical principles of design,” Alexis says. “I had so much fun looking up Greek vernacular homes!”
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When asked how her AMU education prepared her for graduate school, Alexis replies: “When thinking about beauty in design, my professors will often refer back to Plato and Aristotle, which reminds me of the core classes in philosophy I took at Ave. These courses were so useful in laying out a foundation. The math classes at AMU were also very helpful… I was able to take so many different classes and learn from so many great professors. I cherish the friendships that I made at Ave…Ave brought us together and made us very close; I am so grateful for this.” For now, Alexis plans to continue developing her skills in design. Working as a teacher assistant at Notre Dame, she has led some discussions on beauty and architecture, so she might be interested in delving further into that area. Down the road, she dreams of working for a firm on the California coast. And someday, she’d like to have a family. “But all in God’s timing,” Alexis concludes.