Leslie Avila is a Senior Construction Science student interning with The Beck Group in Dallas. Avila works closely with the superintendent on the floor on punch list items and scheduling.
Avila has learned a variety of skills during her internship, including confidence and leadership.
“I hope to have gained self-confidence in asking for what is required and needed. At times it’s nerve-wracking being the youngest one on site and having to give tasks to older people.”
– Leslie Avila
North Lobby at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX
At Gibbs College of Architecture, Avila says everything she learns in classes can be applied to the workforce when she graduates.
“Everything I have learned in school I have applied to my internship, which helps me see that I need to focus the best I can in school so I can connect the dots when I graduate.”
Avila says her favorite part of the program is the ability to work with people and think critically.
“Working together as a whole gets the job done,” she said.
“What I like most is the ability of working with people. I love the critical thinking that is required on the job site.”
Avila has worked on many projects during her time at Gibbs College of Architecture, but her favorite is called “Bid Day.”
“This acts as a real life scenario of what you would need to do during a Bid Day. This showed us all of the work that actual goes into winning a project.”
Mosaic art made in Italy before being cut into parts for shipping then made on-site.
For incoming students, she says going to the career fair and visiting professors during their office hours is the best advice she can give.
“Go to the career fairs as early as possible. You learn so much from internships and it makes you more marketable once you graduate. Also, go to office hours. Professors are more than willing to help when you ask for it.”
Photos provided by Leslie Avila
A project designed by Gibbs College of Architecture faculty member Austin Lightle has been selected for BuildFest 2026, a national art and architecture festival held at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in New York, on the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival.
Two Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture alumni are helping shape recommendations that could influence affordable housing design and construction across Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries recently welcomed Carl Siegel as an Architecture Librarian and Archivist and Assistant Professor. In his role, Siegel supports students, faculty and staff across the Gibbs College of Architecture while also serving as archivist for the American School of Architecture Archives.
