Mariah Peterson
My goals for the mentorship were met as well. The main goals that I wanted to accomplish were learning the inner workings of projects, communication between client and designer, and experiencing the tasks that an interior designer does for a project. I did get to see and do all of those things by doing my own project, talking with Anna gave my insight, and observing Anna on what she does.
I believe my experience was so successful is because of my true love and curiosity of interior design. Without the passion for the industry, it is difficult to apply yourself and make the most out of it. It has to be something that fascinates and genuinely intrigues you and that is what interior design is for me. The main reason why I like it is because of the creativity and how design and art come together in a functional and more practical way--how we live. Also, why I was successful was because of the fun and easy-going relationship that my mentor and I had. It made it effortless to learn and do tasks because I enjoyed it!
Reflection
Over the past 5 months, I have gained so much from this experience. I am so glad that I decided to do a mentorship my senior year of high school because it was a fulfilling, eye-opening, unique, and fun experience for me. Anna Berglin being my mentor made the experience what it was. She guided, explained, and taught me new things about the industry in an intriguing and exciting way. I got to see first-hand the things that she does day to day.
This experience has satisfied my expectations by the fact that I got an in-depth look into the industry. That was the soul focus of doing ProPEL for me. I wanted a real world look into the career, and I definitely got what I wanted. I got to observe cool things like going to client houses and seeing the progression, sitting in on meetings, and learning all the behind the scenes of a project. I felt I had a well-rounded experience of seeing a portion of everything related to the industry.