Today we’d like to introduce you to Zachary Verhulst. Hi Zachary, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory. I was born and raised on the west side of Grand Rapids. and am a proud product of Grand Rapids Public Schools. Growing up, I had no idea what an architect was, let alone that I could be one. For much of my life, my father owned a landscaping business. I started working for him at 13, washing trucks and cleaning the shop, and worked into a foreman position managing crews on construction sites at 16. I learned how to read landscape design drawings, how to lay a site out, and had some interactions with trade contractors as buildings were going up. When I was 19 years old, I was introduced to Isaac Norris, a local architect in town, who took me under his wing for a summer so I could see what he did for work. Through that experience, not only did I learn what an architect was, but I fell in love with many facets of the profession. A mix of art, math, sales, and being on job sites again. It seemed perfect for me so that fall, I transferred and moved to Lawrence Tech on the east side of Michigan. Once I got there, I realized how unprepared I was for the pace and hours needed to be successful. I also experienced a significant lack of diversity, especially getting into the latter half of my academic career.