Mercer ePortfolio CxC

Welcome!

My name is Leila Mercer and I am a Communication Consultant at UNCC for Arch 1602. This will serve as a record of my experience as a CxC. I am pursuing a B.A. in Architecture and am graduating Spring 2024.

I am from Ocean Isle Beach, NC originally but my family is from Morocco.

I’ve attended school in North Carolina my whole life. In my free time, I enjoy reading, cooking, and studying whatever niche interest that is current. Usually these things all overlap.

What I enjoy most is traveling. These pictures are some examples of trips I took in 2023. I grew up spending my Summers in Morocco and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve began venturing outside of just there and founding opportunities to see new things and new places.

about me

Leila Mercer

Communication

Consultant

As I’ve been in Architecture, my favored methods of communication have changed. Architecture is a very hands-on and visual discipline. We communicate ideas through artifacts and drawings which I believe makes it unique in terms of the role I play as a CxC.

Going in as a consultant, my biggest goal was to present myself to my peers as someone who can be trusted moreso as a peer rather than a teacher or TA position.

I remember when I took the same class, I felt a disconnect from my CxC and was then less receptive to her advice.

Aside from visual displays as the main form of communicating ideas, public speaking is a very large part of what we do. We present our ideas in front of a panel of professors and professionals and ask for feedback in return. The way in which we deliver our ideas drastically changes what the reviewers understand.

Writing is less prominent in this discipline yet I personally believe it should be more relavent. Usually more in an academia setting is writing the standard but to be able to write about architecture or spaces in general is a way not only to post rationalize your ideas but a way to discover new ideas and learn more.

I believe my strength as a communicator and a consultant is in my feedback. As someone who has gone through the class that I am a consultant for and has gone through 3 years of the program that they are just starting out in, I am able to provide design advice that is more rooted in the reality of where there are at now in their careers.

One area I would like to improve upon for the rest of the semester is creating an environment with my students that is more interactive rather than a sort of lecture. Some classes can fall into me driving the ideas whenever they are less interested in the topics.

CxC profile

Leila Mercer

Initial goals 1. To cultivate an environment where students feel comfortable speaking up and asking questions and asking for help.

2. To introduce the material in a way where they are encouraged to think critically and engage with the questions brought up.

3. To keep up with my personal work load and be able to come in prepared every class.

goals

Midterm check-in How our class is structured is the five of us CxC’s split the entire first year architecture students evenly and run workshops with our groups of 15 without the presence of the professor for most days. So far in my group, my students seem to be comfortable seeking help and instruction although some days they are quieter than others.

In the beginning I may have been too optimistic about how the material of this class would be percieved. I envisioned more of a genuine interest but understandably, this class fulfills a required credit and is usually treated as such. On lucky days we will receive a prompt that they find interesting enough to engage with but it isn’t every workshop.

I have struggled a bit this semester with keeping up with my workload and remaining engaged myself. Due to this being my last semester it is sometimes difficult to get through this last push. I have yet to fall behind at all but I usually try to stay a little ahead. For the rest of the semester I plan on pushing through the senioritis and finishing strong.

Leila Mercer

farewell.

Following my upcoming graduation in May 2024, I am open to an array of possibilities in the architecture field and adjacent. I am currently applying to Summer internships with design firms in hopes of spending my Summer gaining experience and learning more about the industry.

After this Summer, I may look into more solid positions in a firm to gain more experience and keep me busy for a year until I hopefully go back for my masters. I am still unsure of where to go to for my graduate degree specifically but I am looking into possibly studying abroad to gain a different perspective and also save some money on tuiton. This plan is extremely subject to change as I am open to things that I may find interesting along the way but for now this plan keeps me warm at night. I reserve the right to fall off the grid and do something random.

post-graduation

Leila Mercer