Nicholas Sillies and his Professional Practice Faculty Advisor, Vasso Apostolides

Nicholas Sillies:He’s the single most outstanding Cooperative Education Student of the Year according to the Cooperative Education and Internship Association and he’s helped to forever change the infamous New York Skyline. Nicholas Sillies who will complete his Bachelor of Architecture Degree in June of 2008 received the highest student award that CEIA offers at a ceremony in March 11, 2008 at their annual conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. His work on a 50-story condo tower is in downtown Manhattan featuring a bright yellow façade just a few blocks from the World Trade Center site has already earned him a spot as one of the 100 Cool Co-ops of 2008. According to Nicholas, “It is satisfying to know that I was part of a project that has such visibility and importance in the most famous skyline in the world. After this, I will never be able to look at an image of the city with the same eyes.”

Tara L. Myers, Senior Project Manager at Earl Swensson Associates, Inc. raves about Nick’s contributions as a co-op student. “I could fill paragraphs with adjectives describing his work ethics and skills, but for the sake of brevity, will limit them to hardworking, responsible, self-motivated and extremely talented. He came into the firm, with no former architectural firm experience and blew us away with his ability to jump right into the project at hand and learn new skills and programs. Within days, he was working in a 3-D modeling program he had never seen before and helping to develop schematic design options for a small project within the firm. In addition, Nick was intuitively able to understand client expectations and how these should be translated into his work. He produced high-quality, well-thought out work, regardless of whether it was a simple in-house design sketch or a major presentation drawing for a client.”

He was nominated by his Professional Practice Faculty Advisor, Vasso Apostolides, who speaks very highly of him stating among others that, “Nicholas is an outstanding student whose performance in all areas, shows that he is deeply rooted in the pursuit of his education in architecture and is endowed with above average intelligence, a creative mind, leadership ability but most importantly a pleasant and meek personality. His transition between school and co-op is seamless as he applies himself with the same rigor and thirst for learning. A true self directed learner, Nicholas brings a tremendous insight to his co-op student report demonstrating an above average ability to exercise reflection in action and, building upon his newly acquired skills, to develop a plan for the following co-op quarters. His portfolio which exhibits studio projects, skills, and work done while on co-op is in itself a work of art for the quality of its organization, the clarity of descriptions, and the originality of his architecture.”

In his own words, Nick says “As a student in one of the top rated architecture programs in the nation, I can safely say that my co-op experiences have been a major contribution to my development as a person and as an architecture student. In the past year, I have been able to take this development to a new level working as an active design member at two different architecture firms in the nation. I look at my co-ops not only as a way to apply classroom learning, but also as a larger experience that increases my exposure to other parts of the country, cutting edge techniques in the field, and an overall ability to be an important part of projects that I would never have the opportunity to even see in a classroom studio. In addition it has allowed me to be competitive in my field with other students and professionals from literally around the world.”

The Cooperative Education Student Achievement Award is given each year to an outstanding student enrolled in a four-year or five-year degree program. As the 2008 recipient, Nicholas Sillies was recognized on March 11 at the CEIA Annual Conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.