How do I describe myself in 500 words or less?

It is amazing how much a person can progress and mature in a matter of only a few years. When I previously applied to the M.S. in Architecture and Urban Design program, it was with the intention of matriculating into a school year that would begin three weeks before my Masters of Architecture program culminated at the University of Cincinnati. I had erroneously believed when applying that I could balance both curricula at the same time, as if the feat were nothing more complicated than signing up to take a post-secondary college class while still enrolled in high school. I could not have been more thrilled to receive your March 4, 2005, letter requesting my entry to your esteemed program. Yet, as the deadline for my decision to accept or reject your enrollment invitation approached, I saw the amount of work remaining to be completed in my graduate architecture program. I finally had to admit that finishing early was not a feasible option.

Shortly after graduation, I made a decision to improve the quality of life and brightness of my future. Seeking an area with growth and new urban development, I relocated my career to Charleston, South Carolina, a city in love with its architectural heritage and vibrant urban form. I had not given up on my desire to reapply to your program, but somehow I knew there was a reason I had been called to this particular area. In Charleston, I quickly realized two things – there is an appalling amount of unconstrained growth in the Carolinas and Georgia, and unbeknownst to me, the future love of my life had also moved to Charleston.
Though an urban gem, Charleston suffers from the same dilemma as many other coastal towns before it. Like many cities with an attractive downtown, Charleston has experienced rampant growth as people move to be near it. However, the counties surrounding the city are growing three times more rapidly than Charleston proper. Twenty miles west of the downtown peninsula, Summerville’s new “Town Center” is two miles away from its historical downtown, and what was once a charming main street has now deteriorated to vacancies and desecrated brick buildings. At the new commercial locus, six lane streets connect strip plazas of big box retailers and national fast food chains, each with acres of asphalt posing as front lawn. Like most Charleston suburbs, Summerville has seen a sixty-four percent population increase in merely twenty years, and this rapid development will continue to pervade like wildfire. Proactive leaders in this region need to intercede to preserve the natural beauty and charm this coastal area has maintained until recently.

There are many cities and towns in the Southeast in a similar situation. When one drives along the coastline in this area, it becomes easy to envision the small towns along rural state routes morphing into highways for isolated beach resorts, introspective retirement communities, gated golf course communities, and sprawling retail outlets. Like flowers beginning to bud, devoting special care and cultivation now will keep these municipalities from this fate and enable them to blossom and flourish into meaningful cities that will be equally desired one hundred years from now. Many of these towns have long-range visions for their communities but lack the necessary knowledge to incorporate this new growth in a manner that is cohesive with the goals they have established.

Soon after moving to Charleston, I began to work at LS3P Associates. As the largest architectural firm in the Southeast, I saw this as the firm with the greatest capacity to engage in urban design, and as such, a place where I can both improve the metropolis and learn from Charleston's appeal. The firm was awarded a contract to design both the master plan and private architectural development that would connect the port to the downtown, creating a front gate for tourists to visit the city from cruise ships. I was hired to work on this high-profile project, but shortly thereafter, the process was stalled for economic reasons. My desire to help the city work accommodate new people and grow in unison with the suburbs was put on hold with it. While I was working on other projects for two and a half years, 75,000 people moved into the outlying suburban areas of Charleston.

These burgeoning towns need my help, and I similarly need your assistance. Without a university in the Southeast teaching urban design, the people here need a greater influx of people moving in that possess both a rich educational background and the ambition to preserve the rich heritage and amenities that already exist. These concepts can be cohesive with current development practices, and I ask you to work with me on discovering them. Instill in me a conscientious understanding of the built world around us, so that I may continue to combine the experiences of classroom education with observations collected through travel and analysis, and devote my career to cultivating these towns into environments that people cherish. We do not need additional destinations like Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head Island, both of which subscribe holistically to the suburban principles of isolated land uses, collector roads, and rapid development, quickly choked by traffic congestion and lack of pedestrianism. We need cities with true urbanism, like Charleston, and these principles must be maintained in many of the small towns that are beginning to see growth.

There is no institution that can better provide the passion for my career than yours. I encourage you to accept me once again and emblaze the fire inside me to a passionate roar. I desire to immediately put my training into practice and return to the Southeast to establish my own urban design firm that focuses on incorporating responsible development in this area. Additionally, I seek to passionately educate by becoming a permanent adjunct professor at one of the nearby architectural design universities. This way, I can not only put my beliefs into practice, but also equip the youth of this area with the same timeless and pertinent concepts as they, too, develop into professionals. However, before I can, I recognize that I need a more in-depth knowledge in methods and case studies, which I appeal to you for assistance.