Construction: not just for men anymore
- posted: 28 Feb. 2008
- scrollspecial@byui.edu
For many women, construction, floor plans and building are not common activities. However, LeaDawn Brown is contributing to the growing architectural technology major on campus.
Through family ties, Brown became interested. “My dad is a construction teacher at my home-town high school, so I’ve really been exposed to it. My brother did drafting, so I tried it in high school and I really liked it,” Brown said.
BYU-Idaho offers two construction programs. Architectural technology is a two-year program and construction management is a four-year degree. Brown plans to get her associate degree and then continue on to get a bachelor’s degree in construction management.
Brown’s associate degree program is narrowly focused.
“My major is the design and drawing part of the constructing. There’s more interest in construction management, so my section does not have a lot of students,” Brown said.
Interior design and architecture play parts in designing homes, but they vary drastically.
“Interior design is when you go in after the house is completely finished and you do color coordination, shelves and cupboards. But architecture is the layouts and floor plans and how it’s set,” Brown said.
Brown recently returned from a construction competition in Orlando, Fla., where her team consisted of three females and two males.
“When you think of construction, you don’t think of many girls being involved, but it’s a growing field. At our competition the three girls did all the drafting,” Brown said.
The National American Home Builders competition began in September 2007. It was a competition for students who have completed fewer than two years of college.
They were required to come up with drawings of a house from plans and a book consisting of future schedules for the building of the house. They had until December of last semester and traveled to Orlando last weekend to present their finished product.
With the other four students, Brown worked many hours to finish the project.
“It was really intense and it was a lot of work. We spent a lot of hours working on the project, but it was neat and so worth it. I learned so much more with this hands-on than any other class,” Brown said.
Hard work paid off when they were successful.
“We won third in the nation for our project. We did really well. We got these construction calculators that convert meters to inches and calculate the height, rise and run of staircases. I don’t know how to use it yet, but I like it,” Brown said.
Brown plans to get an architectural associate degree, a bachelor’s degree in construction management and clusters in business and architecture.
“I want to stick with houses. If I wanted to build commercial buildings, I would have three more years after graduating and I would need a commercial license — it’s a bit harder. I’m sticking with residential.” 
