Timing is everything. Just ask Jason Kann.
Jason, who joined Team TSP in December 2014 as an architectural graduate, has passed the fifth and final test through the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards necessary to become a registered architect. After working five years in the industry, he’s elated to add the credentials behind his name.
Because Jason started testing while NCARB was revising its process and rolling out a new set of exams, he earned his license by successfully passing five tests. That’s down from the seven exams required in the past. Jason originally had intended to start the testing cycle in 2009, soon after receiving his Master of Architecture from North Dakota State University in Fargo. A struggling national economy temporarily delayed his entry into the field. Instead, Jason and his wife, Ashley, moved to Salt Lake City where she finished her education and he worked as a planner in a design-related industry.
They moved to Minneapolis in 2012, and Jason started his job at an architectural firm the week the Kanns’ first child was born. Two years later, the couple was expecting their second child. The life event promoted discussions on a future move to South Dakota, where Jason was raised.
“I thought that even though the timing might not work out, I would like to work here someday, so I wanted to at least introduce myself,” Jason said. TSP offered a chance for Jason to work in the firm’s Twin Cities office as needed until he and his family could relocate to Sioux Falls. In fact, the Kanns’ second child was born the week he started at TSP. The family moved to Sioux Falls in April 2015, and Jason officially transferred offices within the company.
Jason was able to focus on his licensing exams only after getting settled in the Sioux Falls area. By then, he’d comfortably completed his internship hours during time spent in the industry—but two small children and multiple moves had made study time hard to find. Beginning in June 2016, Jason set a goal to take a test every few months so he could finish in 2017.
All delays that came before, however, allowed Jason to take a combination of old and new exams. In the end, he needed to pass two fewer than he’d anticipated. And it turns out he finished just in time: A third child will arrive in February 2018.
Jason decided to become an architect as sixth-grader, when he took a field trip to what was then Pope-Todd Architects in Watertown, SD. He was impressed with the drawings and the technology involved in designing buildings. Jason was given a set of drawings from a gym project, and he kept those through high school, never waffling on his career choice.
Simply put, being an architect is fun, Jason said. The teamwork and creativity required to design a successful project is fun to be a part of, and seeing the result is incredibly rewarding.
“You walk into a building and see something you helped come up with—when it’s turned into an actual, tangible building—and you think, yeah, this is definitely worth it.”