Dianne Engell, interior design student, is the winner of the 2019 Wilsonart Essay Competition and the recipient of the $1,000 cash award. In her winning essay, Engell shares her Student Mentoring Program experience at Gensler in Dallas.
Read Dianne's essay (PDF)
About Dianne
After a successful career in Market Insights and Strategy, Dianne is now pursuing a second career in Interior Design. She is currently a student at El Centro College Center for Design in Dallas, TX, and hopes to apply her business acumen, research psychology expertise and new design skills to the built environment. With her diverse professional experience in corporate, academic and government workplaces, Dianne offers a unique combination of skills that she intends to utilize in the optimization of interior spaces. In her spare time, Dianne enjoys designing and caring for her perennial garden, reading, traveling and photography. Dianne serves as a volunteer at Attitudes and Attire, a nonprofit organization dedicated to women seeking self-sufficiency, and as the president of the student chapter of IIDA at El Centro College.
Wilsonart Essay Competition
The Wilsonart Essay Competition recognizes IIDA Student members working towards an interior design degree with plans to pursue a career in the field. Only students participating in the Student Mentoring Program are eligible to enter the competition by submitting an original essay reflecting on their mentoring experience.
The winner will receive $1,000 courtesy of the Wilsonart Education Fund. Wilsonart will also provide roundtrip airfare and two-night hotel stay in Chicago during NeoCon. The student will also be featured on the IIDA (International Interior Design Association ) website, the biweekly e-newsletter DesignMatters, and in the IIDA Student Member quarterly e-newsletter,
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