MONTGOMERY, Ala.(WSFA) – Drew Haley Smith is a young lady with a plan, but sometimes her plans change.

He had all kinds of interests as a child.

“I always loved drawing, but mostly I loved sewing and knitting and playing the piano and things like that, so it wasn’t drawing in a way, but it was more gentle on the artistic side of it,” Smith said.

He was planning to enter the pharmacy program at Auburn University, but then he visited the architecture building.

“I said, ‘This looks really fun,’” he said.

She graduated in five years and did something no other woman in the country had done.

“She is the youngest woman to receive a bachelor’s degree in architecture in the United States,” Jimmy Seay Jr. said. Seay, Seay and Litchfield Architects In Montgomery.

What takes most people 13 years took him just six years, and he completed all his licensing requirements at age 23. This was a perfect fit for the folks at SS&L Architects.

“He’s a very, very talented designer,” Seay said. “I met him freshman year. Their work was excellent. The composition of his resume and portfolio was truly incredible. He was very friendly and could explain everything very well. This was a no-brainer. “He ticked all the boxes and we said ‘we’ll definitely hire him’.”

He is currently leading his own projects, including designing a new wargaming center for Maxwell Air Force Base.

“My favorite part of design is talking to clients and being like, ‘Okay, I heard you wanted this and this is what you have right now.’ “Let’s try to find something that meets your needs better than what you already have,” he said.

“He’s meeting with generals and colonels and all the important people,” Seay said. “It’s pretty impressive to see what he can do and how he can lead a meeting at such a young age.”

This may not have been his original plan, but it looks like it was created for architecture, and he’s just getting started.

SS&L Architects is headquartered in Montgomery, but Smith currently works out of the Auburn office and is at home doing what he loves.

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