Restoration [Shawn Mendes] AU

Chapter 25

As Michelle walked into her first meeting in the CIT building, she was greeted by Adam Phillips, the Department Head for Architecture and Design who would be overseeing her portfolio prep and production. Due to her unusual circumstance as a re-enrolled student who was on track to graduate in June and move into Master coursework, she needed to quickly get things approved and do what she could to update and improve her portfolio for formal critiquing at the end of spring session as well as for future graduate level coursework, internships and employment. She was going to meet with him to show him the last projects she had worked on before she left RISD so he could give her direction and then oversee what she completed between now and the end of spring term. He would also be aiding in finding her a placement for a short-term internship for a portion of winter session that would end in mid-February. That was going to be helpful, so she wouldn't be so overwhelmed right off the bat.

The last instructor she had a class with that morning was Caroline Richards, whom she had known from her previous time at RISD. Caroline Richards was going to oversee partners or small groups of students who were working on projects in collaboration with one another for winter session. The time they would need to spend together on their collaborations to complete their final projects would be 2 full days per week, as well as some classroom time on other days for full group lectures. There would also be times when these partners or small groups would have to meet with each other on their own time.

After speaking with Prof. Phillips, she felt confident in her ability to do what he had suggested, to edit and get her portfolio up to date with work she would be doing for the rest of the year...CAD models, photography, assigned projects and renderings. She was also looking forward to working as an intern in whatever place they sent her. That would be a chance to get her feet wet in a professional setting and get a taste of what she would doing as a graduate student.

The one area she was not as confident was the collaboration assignment. She knew she could work with other students across any other discipline if the project could incorporate each students' area of study. She figured the easiest would be to work with someone in furniture design, landscape design, industrial design or architecture.

She didn't feel as confident, because these other students were also working for a grade and credits and had no idea who she was or what her abilities were. She walked in there in the middle of the year, so they didn't know her at all and their partnerships and group collaborations had already been pre-approved before Christmas break. Where would she fit in and would they want to work with an unknown if she was stuck in some group that was forced to take her because it had been decided by the department head?

As she saw Shawn walk into the classroom with another guy he was talking to, she was happy to see a familiar face. When he saw her, he gave her one of his million dollar smiles and made his way over to sit down in the chair beside her, resting his elbows on his knees and holding a binder in his hands as he turned to look up at her.