Design Institute of San Diego

Making it Work: DI Instructor Kristy McKlosky and her journey to save the world one design at a time.

Looking fresh, alert and four months pregnant, DI instructor Kristy McKlosky is all smiles and eager to share her feeling about teaching at DI "I love it here! I feel like everyone who works at DI really wants this to be the best education and it makes for a cool environment for students and teachers." Kristy's calm but enthusiastic demeanor generates an atmosphere that really helps the students excel, but getting to this point and finding her balance didn't happen overnight.

With an undergraduate degree in art education from Colorado State University, Kristy taught art at a public high school for some time. Her passion for art that improves quality of life for people is what ultimately drew her into getting a Masters of Fine Art in Interior Design. "I'd always been into the practical side of art. With interior design I could still work with the principles and elements of design, yet it could be functional." Even with those thoughts, Kristy struggled with the transition to interior design. Being a teacher had really made her feel like she was giving back every day and when she first started her interior design classes she thought "How am I going to save the world by doing this?!" That all changed by the time she got to her thesis project on socially and environmentally responsive design. It contained a few projects such as a transitional home for kids coming out of the foster care program and another on prefab design and a program for people who have lost their homes; something that they could build and work on together as a community. "Those things all just made perfect sense to me and made me realize that I can save the world by doing interior design!"

After graduating, Kristy explored the world of design through various jobs. She started with a firm that did mainly kitchen and bath remodels and then after getting her LEED AP, went on to an architectural firm where she helped with their LEED submittals. "It was an amazing opportunity. It was awesome to have this practical knowledge and be able to use it." Kristy now works at GM Business Interiors (a dealer for Herman Miller.) "It's the commercial side of things which I hadn't had as much experience in, so I'm learning a lot. And I sit in an Earon chair!"

Missing her days as a teacher, Kristy spoke with some contacts from ASID and looked around for teaching opportunities. There was nothing at the time but a position at DI came up a semester later. "It was at a time when my jobs were transitioning and I was worried because everything wasn't in place. But I decided that I didn't care because teaching is so important to me and I feel I needed both. I believe the job industry side and the teaching side strengthen each other." So Kristy eagerly agreed to take on the ID III class. "I was so excited! I knew of DI and I knew it had a great reputation. Once I got here and saw what the students were doing, I was blown away. I always tell my students that they are getting the best education around. They're learning not just how to make a project board but the problem solving and critical thinking skills. It's such a strong program and it feels awesome to be a part of it."

The ID III class suits Kristy perfectly because the main emphasis is to design a space with LEED credits in mind. Plus the semester long project is done in groups which puts Kristy's people skills to the test! "The groups are definitely the hardest part but it's also such a cool evolution: watching them work through what they're doing and seeing how different people in the group complement each other. I tell them from the beginning that ‘in the real world you're going to have to work in groups.' It's actually helped me in my professional career. I think about the things I tell them and realize that I should be applying it to my professional life as well!"

One of the first bits of feedback Kristy got from student teaching was about how well she connected with the students. "It's the individuals that matter to me, not just the information I'm putting out there." Kristy makes a point to tailor her lectures to suit multiple ways of learning. She is also very approachable. "I feel like school should be a supportive environment. It's important to support students and what they're learning. You're not just regurgitating information. If someone is having a bad day, it's going to affect how they learn and being respective of that yet maintaining a high expectation is important. We all have crazy things that happen in our lives but even with that people tend to rise to the occasion. So keeping expectations high is vital." Kristy also makes sure that what they're learning is relevant to their career. "People will learn when they see how it relates to their lives." Kristy is a great teacher, which may not be surprising since both her mother and grandmother were teachers. It's in her blood. "I feel like teaching is my calling and to be able to teach content that is really important to me and the world is the perfect combination."

Kristy's ultimate dream is to create a school program where students use local materials and local people to build community structures or housing for people who need it. "It would be great for the students to get a hands-on look at how design can better people's lives." Kristy is always the first to sign up for the DI FaceLift team in which DI students, faculty, staff, friends and family get together on a Saturday twice a year to spruce up a house for people who are less fortunate. "I love doing FaceLift! It falls in that same category. The giving back part of it." Having an instructor with a passion for giving back not only benefits the students and their learning but teaches them through example how they too can change the world.