Melissa Pierson grew up in the rural farmlands of Pennsylvania. Growing up on a farm she was fascinated by the old farm buildings and the frequent maintenance and construction they required. She was interested in architecture, but it was a job shadow she did for a local firm for 6 months during her senior year of high school that made her realize she wanted to be an architect. Little did she know that her interest in old farm buildings would lead her to a career with military design and construction.
Upon high school graduation she headed to Brigham Young University – Idaho where she earned an A.A.S. in Architectural Technology. The university website states, “The major in Architectural Technology, is a two-year specialized program for those individuals who desire to enter the architectural drafting job market at the completion of the program.” While attending school there she did an internship with a private firm in Utah that designed hospitals and medical buildings.
To earn her Bachelor of Architecture degree, she enrolled in Boston Architectural College. The program required an internship, and her brother-in-law, engineer for TAM, recommended she apply for the student internship with the Transatlantic Middle East District (TAM). She interviewed in February and was notified of her acceptance in May. Her internship with the Project Management team started in early June 2021.
Melissa wasn’t sure what to expect heading into the project management internship and she had no experience with military design. Upon her arrival, she was fascinated to learn about the amount of coordination, communication, and troubleshooting that occurred to manage the multitudes of ongoing work at TAM. The experience taught her about multi-tasking a variety of projects, how to ask questions, and how to quickly manage unexpected issues that arose.
She was able to continue her internship remotely while her fall 2021 semester started and that is something she has continued to do with subsequent semesters. In fall of 2021 she left project management and moved into the architecture division working for Mary Billings. Melissa really appreciates how Mary, her mentor Steven Lee, architect for TAM, as well as her school professors and advisors helped her build a strategy for balancing her school and work commitments. The support system helped her develop time management skills. She has control over the number of hours she commits to TAM, but essentially works part time during the semester and full-time during breaks.
She credits the various supervisors and mentors she has had during her internship with TAM for her ongoing success. She said everyone on the team is willing to spend the time explaining the work and answering any questions she poses. Melissa believes, “If you ask a lot of questions, that strengthens the learning process.” Compared to some of her fellow students in other internships, she realized how TAM had provided her with a lot of growth and mentorship opportunities. She has been given exposure to a variety of projects.
Working at TAM has exceeded many of her expectations. She said the first challenge she overcame was learning out to use the metric system. She said, “Working in a global context, it only makes sense to understand both systems.” She also was surprised by how interesting the work TAM is developing, like the United Arab fighter jet hangars she has been working on as part of the TAM design team. She has had the ability to work with architects that have the heaviest workload, learn from them, and provide assistance, and then move on to the person with the next heaviest workload. This allows both the intern and the organization to benefit. As part of her internship, she has learned how architects are involved throughout the different phases of a project and participated herself in these design responsibilities like programming, drawing documentation, construction submittal review, and more. She is enjoying the opportunities to go from an inquisitive novice towards becoming a subject matter expert.
Her hope is to gain a permanent position at TAM upon graduation in May 2024. She is considering the Army Fellows program as an option. She really likes the Winchester area and says it is a good balance between where she grew up and where she currently lives in Boston. Once she is done with school, she is anxious to get back to her artistic hobbies of crafts, painting, crocheting, cooking, and photography. She also loves to travel to parks and explore the hidden and unknown places of an area. She thinks the Shenandoah Valley would be an ideal place for such excursions.