For Katherine May, the path to becoming an architect began with a suggestion from her mother, a classroom aptitude test, and a summer camp that changed everything.

A 2004 graduate of New Glarus High School, May initially envisioned a very different future for herself.

"My mom always suggested I be an architect, but I felt sure I wanted to be an astronomer," she recalled. "Then Mrs. (Monica) Schober gave me an aptitude test in class and Architect was number one on my list. I then decided to take an architecture summer camp at Notre Dame when I was around 15 years old and I was hooked."

More than two decades later, May is a licensed architect, founder of architecture and design firm Paper & Field, and serves as lead architect and construction manager for New Glarus Brewing Company, where she is helping oversee the brewery's ambitious expansion project.

Her journey, however, was anything but easy.