Read a Q&A with Austin Anderson ’26, a third-year NDSU architecture student and previous NDSU student body vice president.
What inspired you to study architecture?
I’m from the Twin Cities, and every year my family would go see “A Christmas Carol” at the Guthrie Theater. Well, my favorite part about going downtown was just looking at the buildings — the view coming into downtown. I would just yap about that. I would talk about it so much that my family would get annoyed. So I never had an “aha” moment, it’s just always what I’ve been intrigued by.
What has your experience at NDSU been like?
The classes, the extracurriculars, and the community involvement on our campus is insane. I’m also blown away by NDSU’s architecture program being a five-year accelerated master’s and bachelor’s degree. That opens up a lot of possibilities. When I was deciding where to go to school, a lot of the places I toured offered a five-year bachelor’s degree and then two additional years for a master’s degree. NDSU is five years for both. That was a big driver for me to come to NDSU.
To me, NDSU doesn’t feel like a smaller community or a smaller university. I say that because the opportunities I’ve had have been so much larger than I’m used to. I’ve had siblings go to other, larger universities and seen how they interact with that type of environment, and the opportunities and the personalization I’ve gotten here have been incredible.
What was it like serving as student body vice president last year?
That was the best decision I’ve ever made. I got to connect with a lot of alumni and community leaders, and their stories are so inspiring. I also got to be one of four students that could access a multimillion-dollar budget — that is a huge responsibility and was definitely a financial literacy crash course. So through all those experiences, I got to learn all these amazing professional skills and meet some incredible people. I didn’t expect all that when I ran, but it helped me become a more proficient, better person.
How has philanthropy impacted your experience at NDSU?
I’ve gotten the chance to educate students about the resources that are there for them — that’s through student government and now as a tour guide for the Office of Admissions and an orientation leader. I can tell students about our advising center or the services you can get for scholarship applications that students might not realize are there.
And if you talk about philanthropy, I’m in Greek life. Greek life at NDSU is very philanthropically based and driven. Every year, thousands of hours of service are donated to the community and larger organizations, and that’s super cool to see. It’s really inspiring seeing young people rallying behind a cause and getting personally connected with the community.
So, what’s next?
Academically, my goal is to start studying for my accreditation tests because you have a plethora of tests to take to get your accreditation as an architect. Hopefully while that’s happening, I’ll intern at a firm or be new to a firm as a full hire.
I guess my main goal is just to meet as many people and to have as many experiences as I can. I’m a talker — I hope that’s shining through. I love hearing people’s stories and getting to know new people. I want to keep engaging across campus and exploring different things.