Interior designers win war

  Thursday, October 17, 2013 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Interior designers win war

Some PSU interior designers went to war and left the battlefield as victors. Nine Pittsburg State University interior design students competed in the International Interior Design Association’s (IIDA) Mid America Chapter Design Wars last month in Kansas City and two were on the first-place team. Faculty sponsors said the experience made all of them winners.

Lynsey Sholders, a senior from Newton, Kan., and Cassandra Stanley, a sophomore from Columbus, Kan., were members of the winning team.

The day-long competition required the students to work in teams with students from other universities to develop a spatial layout for the new IIDA headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. The teams created spatial layouts, developed furniture plans, selected materials, furniture, lighting, and finishes, drew elevations/perspective drawings, created boards, and made presentations.

Four interior design professionals judged the students’ work and the winning team received $2,000.

Sholders and Stanley were paired with two interior architecture majors from Kansas State University.

“It was a lot different working with strangers and trying to figure out a way that we would all be able to succeed within the competition,” Sholders said. “Cassie worked with one K-Stater and I did as well. I learned so much about how they were educated and how it differed from our program, so all-in-all, both schools were getting to learn so many new techniques and ideas.”

Denise Bertoncino, a member of the faculty in PSU’s Interior Design Program, said the event was a great opportunity not only for students to put into practice what they had learned, but to team with other students from other universities. Having PSU students bring home a top prize was especially exciting, she said.

“We were very excited about our students’ success,” Bertoncino said. “Our students did well, learned a great deal and came home with added confidence in their skills and their talents.”

Sholders said the experience boosted her confidence.

“Walking away from the competition a winner made me realize that my education is really going to get me far in life,” Sholders said. “I look forward to all the design opportunities that are out there after graduation. Basically it assured me and my confidence that I will be a great designer, I just have to personally believe it.”

In addition to Sholders and Stanley, the participants included: Pa Da Vang, sophomore; Taylor Conner, sophomore from Lee’s Summit, Mo.; Ashley Snyder, sophomore from Joplin, Mo.; Sara Marquette, senior from Wichita, Kan.; Heidi Warlop, senior from Frontenac, Kan.; Maureen Scheer, senior from Andale, Kan.; and Kara Doherty, senior from Lenexa, Kan.


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