Faces of Philanthropy

Dillan Graham

 

From an early age, Dillan Graham was always designing and building something out of Legos or whatever he had to work with.

“I was very creative and talented with drawing,” recalls the graduate student from Cedar Park, Texas. “It got to the point that somebody, I think it was my grandmother, suggested architecture to me.”

That suggestion set him on a course that would include his taking some classes in the subject in high school, where he “became very interested in the design of spaces and buildings,” and then his enrolling at The University of Texas at Arlington, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 2016.

Now, Dillan is in his final semester of study toward a master’s degree in architecture at UTSA and planning a future that he hopes will lead him eventually to owning his own firm, “doing high end residential and commercial design” and being able to incorporate another special talent into his work.

An independent study course in furniture design has rekindled a childhood passion and given him a secondary creative outlet beyond his architectural designs. “During my time at UTSA, my love of woodworking has grown, due to the fact that I have been able to use the College of Architecture’s wood shop,” he noted, “and I have been able to learn new skills and even designed and built my own chair.”

“Woodworking is kind of like my secondary creative outlet. Obviously, architecture and design are creative processes, but woodworking is something that is not as rigid. So, I plan to be able to incorporate my woodworking into designs that I do in the future – and actually do furniture designs for specific homes and spaces.”

Dillan credits the support he has received from the Kimberly & Ron Blank Annual Scholarship in Architecture and an AIA San Antonio/Paseo Del Rio Association Endowed Scholarship for easing his path to his master’s degree.

“I’ve had to take out loans and work part-time jobs throughout my entire academic career,” he said. “The fact that I’m able to get scholarships really makes it where I can focus on the actual schoolwork, and it’s really the most important time for that since I’m doing my master’s project this semester.”

In addition to his thanks to his donors, Dillan expressed gratitude to his parents “for being extremely supportive of me and helping me at every step along the way. Without them, I don’t know where I would be.”

“I’ve also had a lot of great professors here at UTSA, including Professor Mark Blizard and Professor Michael Guarino, who have helped me a lot with my skills, my talent and also my personal confidence,” said the future architect. “I want to express a lot of appreciation to all of them.”

Now, Dillan is ready to move to the next phase of his life. “I’ve been in school for quite a while now,” he said, “and I’m just happy to get toward the actual profession and working.”