The Garver engineering firm presented the Architectural Design program at HCISD with a $3,340 check.
“They heard about our last project, the home we designed, and that caught their attention,” Harlingen High School Architectural Design teacher Emiliano Amaro said.
On February 2, several Garver representatives made a stop by Amaro’s classroom. This included CAD technicians Erika Mata and Mariela Ramirez, project engineer Gabby Reyna, project coordinator Juan Mata, and CFM-Water Infrastructure Design Center leader Ernesto Flores.
“Our plan is to come here and tell you a little bit about what we do and to give a contribution to your group in order to enhance the learning experiences that you guys are having,” Ernesto Flores said.
The Garver group first explained a little bit about what the Harlingen office does.
“Our office in Harlingen focuses a lot more on the infrastructure side, which is like pipelines, sewer lines, water lines, and storm drains,” Gabby Reyna said. “So, I do a lot of calculations. They do a lot of the drafting of the plan sets. Then, we give that to the contractor and to the construction company and they are the ones that build.”
The team shared their personal stories and inspired students with advice for the future.
“If you become very good at what you do, opportunities will come knocking on your door,” Flores said.
They also shared how the company offered internship opportunities.
“We want to be here for another century and in order to do that, we need you all,” Flores said. “We need the new generations coming in, and we need to be able to share all our knowledge so that you guys are prepared for when that comes.”
At the end, Amaro shared what his class has been working on since their last project.
“Right now, we have been studying ADA,” Amaro said. “We have also been learning the program AutoCAD. I tell them that as soon as they learn the program, they can go anywhere with it, engineering, architectural, civil, landscape architect, whatever they decide to go into. We are also starting a new project; we will be designing a tiny home soon. We are continuing to help the Harlingen Community Development. We have already started four houses and we should start another two this year.”
Senior Emily Castro, one of the most engaged students throughout the Garver presentation expressed an interest in pursuing a career in Architectural Design.
“My plans are to go to TSTC to get my associates for drafting,” Castro said. I want to talk to Garver about an internship, so I can get a feel of what it might be to work for the company. Then, I plan on going to San Antonio to get my bachelor’s for Architectural Design. During my junior year, I didn’t expect to be put in this class, but Mr. Amaro is a good teacher, and it was really him that motivated me to want to go to college for this specific career.”
