Growing up, senior Litany Gaines spent her free time wishing she could break into the houses she passed on the street. However, it was for all the right reasons.
“I’ve always admired buildings, even from weirdly young ages,” Litany said. “I was always drawing and admiring them and trying to recreate certain ones I saw that caught my attention. I always wished I could go inside people’s houses to see how they were built and set up.”
Litany’s curiosity for the buildings she frequently appreciated quickly grew from a mild hobby to something much more impactful: her future career. While the decision to choose her prospective job is a daunting task, Litany is more enthusiastic and excited than anything to be able to pursue her lifelong enthusiasm for architecture in college and life.
While there were other career paths that Litany considered following, she knew that architecture would always be what she decided on, mostly due to the immense enthusiasm she has always felt around the subject.
“I’m going into architectural technology,” Litany said. “It was a pretty smooth process to decide [on architecture]. Ever since I was young, I knew I wanted to design and create buildings, especially houses. I’ve always loved those huge houses with tiny, beautiful details. I guess I’ve basically known forever that I wanted to design something like them.”
While Litany’s passion for architecture has defined many of her future plans, another aspect of the career she aspires to have adds to her excitement about her college and future experiences.
This facet of her future is one of her other interests that carries significant weight to her: the environment. In everything from camping, hiking, gardening, and spending time in nature with the people she loves, Litany finds great joy and peace in the natural world.
She loves everything outdoors and nature-related. In fact, Litany is moving with her family to a farm, where she will find even more time to be outside and enjoy the earth.
“It’s my grandparents’ old farm,” Litany said. “We’re taking it over and turning it into a homestead sort of thing. We’re planning to get some animals and set up a few shops that we’re going to have in the local town. We want to get things like bees for it and turn it into something new.”
I love the thought of buildings that are even more environmentally friendly than the ones we have today. Those are the sort of things that I hope I can design.
— Litany Gaines
The plan for the farm contributes to Litany’s life in many ways, including its cultivation of her flourishing love for both the environment and architectural design. She is doing a lot to help design the layout and architecture of their new home and thinking about the environmental impact of what she is doing along the way.
Litany’s love for being outside has always been obvious, even during her childhood, but in more recent years, it has evolved to hold greater significance in her life. Because of how much she has always adored the natural world, Litany has decided that one thing she hopes to spend her life pursuing is ways to protect and restore it.
Luckily, she has found the perfect thing that combines both of her interests.
“I know for sure that I want to go into some form of architecture,” Litany said, “but I’m really aiming for either environmental or landscape architecture. I love the environment. I’m very interested in protecting it, and I love the thought of buildings that are even more environmentally friendly than the ones we have today. Those are the sort of things that I hope I can design.”
Litany is tremendously excited about her future, and a lot of that excitement stems from knowing how much she’ll enjoy everything she plans to pursue in her future years. However, just because she is looking forward to her future doesn’t mean that Litany is at all dismissing the present.
As a senior, Litany has spent her last year of high school appreciating things that she never got to before, due to the stress of the future. From her favorite class—Mr. Miedema’s architecture classes, of course—to just relaxing with new friends, senior year has fostered some of Litany’s favorite high school memories.
“[Senior year] is pretty different than other years,” Litany said. “I took easier classes, which is nice, and I’ve spent more time focusing on things like work or hanging out with people. I’ve been doing things that I know I’ll enjoy instead of prioritizing AP classes and getting ahead. And even though it’s senior year, I’ve loved forming friendships and a friend group that I know will last through college.”
Litany’s final year of high school has been filled to the brim with friendships, sentimentality, and especially enthusiasm for her future. She couldn’t be more excited for the freedom, knowledge, and experiences that college offers, and she gets to spend her next four years studying architecture and nature, the things she is most passionate about.
While she is experiencing some conflicting emotions—nostalgia and nerves are at constant war with anticipation and eagerness—Litany can’t wait to move on to the next chapter of her life, seeking knowledge and expertise in all her greatest passions.
“I’m so excited to get away from home and see what life is like on my own,” Litany said. “I can’t wait to find myself more [in my future] and be able to dedicate so much time to doing what I’ve loved my whole life. Part of me is so scared, but I know that in the end, it’ll be good for me to have that separation from [home] and find myself away from the people I’ve spent [my whole life] with.”
