“As a kid, I really enjoyed drawing. And I remember hearing my parents always say, ‘Oh, here’s our little architect.’ So I guess that stuck with me. Because when it was time to decide what I wanted to pursue I thought, let me try it out and see if it works. And it did. I’ve been an architect for 20-plus years now.

“Putting a set of drawings together and watching things get built is a pretty satisfying experience. Right now, my company mostly works on retail centers. In fact, we’re doing a few on Garth Road in Baytown. While those are fine, I especially have enjoyed working on school projects in the past. Taking those schools from design all the way through construction, from beginning to end, is a really interesting process. Plus, in the end, you see the positive impact those facilities have on the students. That really makes all the long hours and hard work worthwhile.”

— Jesse Garcia

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“I want to be recognized around the world for building homes that are stable against major hurricanes and tornadoes. Living in this area, we see our share of storms. People pay a lot of money for their houses, and some of them can get destroyed in just a couple seconds.

“My family and I have experienced living through a hurricane. There was some flooding but, luckily, it didn’t make it into our house. We were pretty scared, though.

“When I was a little kid I used to play with construction toys. I would pretend to be a manager, telling people what to do. Now my goal is to become an architect.

“I would like to design my own home and my mom’s dream house. My home would be one story made out of brick, with my own soccer field in back. My mom and dad have always dreamed of owning a house with a beautiful clay tile roof. My mom came from Mexico, and that’s the way many of the houses there are built. One day, I hope I can make her dream come true.”

— Luis Ruiz, 21

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