When I was in middle school, my parents purchased an ever-deteriorating house in Petersburg, Virginia.  The use of the word “deteriorating” is perhaps too sugarcoated. The house was simply falling apart. However, my parents loved their new project and through hands-on, but sometimes forced labor, I grew to love the home as well. What was most interesting for me during the renovation process, are the stories that the house began to share with us. Within it’s walls we found newspapers, in the attic we found glasses and marbles. In the basement we found a trunk buried under layers of soot; inside were receipts, letters, and a locket of hair. I realized that the house had grown in a symbiotic relationship with the people that had lived there, and that I too, would leave my mark on the building. It was during the following years that I discovered an interest in the field of preservation, which would eventually develop into a full-fledged passion. More recently, this desire to learn about the historic being coupled with an undergraduate degree in Urban Planning, has led me to pursue a Historic Preservation Master’s degree from the University of Oregon. After achieving this degree, I hope to influence local communities, specifically in dense urban environments, to discover the merit and joys behind Historic Preservation. I hope that through my future efforts within the field of preservation, I will allow the stories of quietly waiting buildings to be heard on a massive scale.