School of Architecture Student Profiles

Julia Smith isn’t your typical design student, and for Puente—the Hispanic student organization of CAPLA that she recently led—that’s a good thing. Though Smith is a second-year Bachelor of Architecture student, she’s six years older than most of her classmates. She’s also married to a member of the U.S. military.

B.Arch student Christine Ufondu, who is also pursuing in a Minor in Real Estate Development, will graduate in 2025. She was born in Houston, Texas, but mostly grew up in Rivers State, Nigeria. Though she chose to come to CAPLA site unseen, it was the right decision: she loves the community of faculty, students and immersive design.

Tayler Forsberg, who is from Rice Lake, Wisconsin, will graduate from the Bachelor of Architecture program in May 2022. He then plans to attend graduate school before working towards becoming a registered architect and, eventually, teaching.

Yaqui tribe member Daniel Vega, who is from Tucson, graduated from the BS in Sustainable Built Environments program in December 2021. Continuing his passion for sustainable design, he is taking advantage of the CAPLA Master of Architecture accelerated master’s program (AMP), which he will complete in 2024.

Bachelor of Architecture student David Zúñiga is from Nogales, Arizona. In this profile, he discusses his passion for cinema and architecture, how architecture school makes him a critical thinker, his experience in the CAPLA Hispanic student organization PUENTE, how he's learning to be patient and more.

Bachelor of Architecture student Athba Alradaan, who is from Kuwait, took advantage of remote learning due to the pandemic to participate in two informative internships in her home country. In this profile, she shares what she loves about architecture, how she's overcome challenges and more.

B.Arch student Rachael Varin, who was born and raised in Tucson, has used her CAPLA studio and design/build experience, as well as her internships in Arizona and California, to build upon her passion for construction.

Greg Veitch, who is from New Haven, Connecticut, entered CAPLA's Master of Architecture program after receiving his undergraduate degree in English from the University of Connecticut. Prior to enrolling at CAPLA, he worked for two years at a design firm in Aspen, Colorado.

Zoe Sadorf, who is from the Southern Arizona city of Sierra Vista, entered CAPLA's Master of Architecture program after receiving her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Portland State University. Prior to joining CAPLA, she spent three years with a Portland, Oregon architecture firm.

Bachelor of Architecture student Rafael Taiar, who is from the small city of Vinhedo in São Paulo, Brazil, came to CAPLA for what he knew would be a challenging and rewarding experience.

CAPLA student ambassador Lydia Roberts came to the Bachelor of Architecture program at the University of Arizona from Sierra Vista, Arizona, but has family across the globe.

Anisa Hermosillo, who was born and raised in Tucson, nearly chose another architecture program out of state. She quickly realized that staying home to study architecture at UArizona was the right decision.