Kari Uhlenkamp, an architect in our Davenport, Iowa office, is celebrating one year with us. She leads and manages the projects through all phases. Currently, she鈥檚 designing (Davenport Community Schools) and Bettendorf Community School District鈥檚 Alternative High School – .
Growing up in a family of engineers, solving problems and building things were always happening around the house. But it wasn鈥檛 until one of her art teachers brought architectural magazines to class that Kari became intrigued with architecture. Knowing she liked art and building things, architecture fit into the mix.
As an architect, Kari enjoys problem-solving to design facilities. Designing K-12 schools fulfills Kari鈥檚 passion for helping students, as education has always been important. Kari shares, 鈥淚 give teachers a lot of credit because I know I couldn鈥檛 be one, but I love helping students, so designing functional, comfortable, and inclusive spaces for students and educators is my way of giving back to schools.鈥�
Kari also enjoys mentoring the younger generations and sharing her career with students to open their eyes to other careers, like architecture. 鈥淚鈥檇 love to have the same impact on a student as my art teacher did on me when he brought in the architecture magazines,鈥� Kari added.
While her kids keep her busy outside of work, that doesn鈥檛 stop Kari from finding time to work on her artwork or get outside to hike or paddleboard.
