Students from the Auburn Latino Association of Students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI decided to reactivate the Auburn Latino Association of Students (ALAS) as president of the organization. There was a need to unite and inspire students to continue with their studies and pursue their careers. A need to receive comfort and energy to face challenges. A need to make this world a better place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once students in ALAS came together, I quickly realized that Hispanic students were not the only group of people struggling on campus. African American students, the LGBT community, other international students, and many more were also facing difficult challenges. Along with the other student leaders at Auburn, we were able to connect students, share experiences, make memories, become friends, and most importantly, not feel alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are on this journey together, and together we are stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After graduating from Auburn University, I worked as a CAD technician in engineering and architecture for five years. The firm I was working at was going through layoffs, and I found an opportunity as a seventh-grade pre-algebra teacher in a Tier 1 middle school, where most of the students lived on, or below, the federal poverty level. Without a doubt I took it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These kids constantly faced violence, gangs, drugs and hunger, and I immediately connected with them. I understood their struggles. As a teacher, my primary goal every day was to make sure the students knew that I believed in them, especially the students that were rebellious and did not want to follow instructions. They were the ones that needed the most support, motivation and inspiration. <\/p>\n\n\n\nSite plan by Dominguez for a park and pavilion surrounding the Ivey-Ellington House in Cary, North Carolina.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI was always looking for exciting ways to teach pre-algebra in order to motivate the kids to want to be in school. I used my past work experience in architecture, engineering and drafting in my classroom - helping the students build models and design what they would want in their communities, while still teaching them math in an exciting and meaningful way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
During this time as a teacher, I knew that I wanted to come back as a designer. But this time I wanted to be part of the design process and make sure that every design benefits the community. To me, the best way to do this is with education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without a doubt, going to NC State for the landscape architecture program was the best decision I could have ever made. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here, we are being taught about the power of landscape architects, and how the spaces we design can impact how people interact with each other. I want to use this power of design to help communities devastated by poverty through parks, community centers and spaces for economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hope to use my future in landscape architecture to serve the lives of people in these communities and in the process inspire others to do the same. I want to design landscapes that also give people the rich memories of adventure and excitement that I felt at the beaches of Sinaloa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to make even the poorest feel like millionaires.<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Melissa Manjarrez Dominguez is a first-year graduate student in the college’s Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning program. In her story, she recalls her youth in Sinaloa, Mexico, her experiences facing anti-immigration legislation in Alabama, and her desire to create landscapes that are enriching and available to everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":31846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":false,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"caption\":\"Melissa Manjarrez Dominguez at her desk in the Landscape Architecture studio.\",\"subtitle\":\"\",\"displayCategoryID\":387}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49,387],"tags":[57],"class_list":["post-31774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newswire","category-student-experience","tag-landscape-architecture"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":387,"name":"Student Experience","slug":"student-experience","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":387,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":209,"filter":"raw"},"acf":{"ncst_posts_meta_modified_date":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31774"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38796,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31774\/revisions\/38796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/design.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}