Hope, who is from Kampala, Uganda, is passionate about architecture, sustainable design and environmental justice. An architectural studies and environmental studies double major who is minoring in Hispanic studies, Hope is a scholar in the Toor Cummings Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts (CISLA) pursuing research on African and Latin American vernacular architecture. Her CISLA foundation course, “Perspectives in Modern Global Societies,” taught her how to see and understand architecture through the lens of her positionality.
“Being an international student, but also being from a community-based culture, I was drawn to vernacular architecture because it captured the core values of community, harmony with the environment, and resourcefulness,” she says. Her CISLA support courses, “Hispanic Identities” and “South American Cultures and Environments,” delved into topics such as indigeneity, traditional practices among South American and Spanish-speaking groups, and political and environmental conflict, which all helped Hope understand building practices as they relate to Latin America.
The summer before her junior year, Hope earned a Bessell Fellowship to intern with The Sasamani Foundation, a nonprofit that builds education and employment programs to stop the cycle of poverty in Tanzania. And as a rising senior, CISLA funding allowed her to work as a sustainable architecture intern for El Terreno, a cultural exchange center in Ecuador with a mission to make a more meaningful, prosperous and sustainable world. While in Ecuador, Hope pursued an independent research project on vernacular adobe architecture in the Guaranda region, with a focus on integrating traditional building practices into local contemporary contexts.
Hope’s internships and independent research informed her All-College Symposium presentation, “Bridging Tradition and Innovation: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Vernacular Architecture,” which explores how various traditional design approaches and principles reshape architecture to address pressing needs like sustainability and housing insecurities. During her time at Conn, Hope, who plays on the women’s club soccer team, has also served as president of the Conn Christian Fellowship, public relations chair of the International Students Association, co-president of the African Students Association, and social media chair for Model United Nations. After graduation, she hopes to attend graduate school to become a licensed architect.
