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ALUM OF THE MONTH: ERIN BOHLIN, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURAL ASSISTANT / DRAFTER AT RGA LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS IN PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA

Erin Bohlin graduated in Horticulture with an emphasis in Landscape Design in May 2015.  Erin is from Dubuque, Iowa.

Erin’s major job responsibilities are to take the concepts and hand-drawings from the LAs and other Designer and plug everything into AutoCAD/LandFX to create official drawings, ranging from Conceptual to Preliminary and frequently Construction Drawings.  She also works on construction details themselves.  With her background in design and increasingly thorough focus on plant material (always learning!), slowly being pushed to do planting design as her experience grows.  She also dabbles with Photoshop to create image boards and to render perspectives and elevations for their clients for a multitude of purposes varying from persuasion to marketing material.  Also cost estimates, but those aren’t as much fun.

We asked Erin what she likes most about this position.  I get to see and work on all aspects of what goes into planning and designing a range of environments, from homes to planned communities to hotels/resorts to community parks.  I’m often in touch with planning departments of city and county governments, vendors of all sorts of products, engineers and architects so I get to see a little bit of a lot of different worlds.  But my favorite is seeing our hard work installed, come to life, and grow.

Following is advice Erin offers to current students:  Ask lots of questions – the right questions are as impressive as knowing the correct answers.  Don’t be afraid to interview with what seems a little out of your league – I thought working for this Landscape Architecture firm was too high on the ladder given my limited experience and degree but here I am!