Undeterred by the obstacles he encountered along the way, Warren Fray's story is truly an inspiration to other young Bermudians.

"My trials and tribulations towards becoming an architect are truly a storey of hard work, persistence and determination. It is a plateau few people reach and from which the view is incredible," said Mr. Fray who is back home for a short vacation to celebrate his achievement with his family and friends.

Hearing on February 6 that he had passed the last of his nine exams was the best birthday gift he could give his mother.

"I am proof that any goal can be reached, and I would like to encourage my fellow Bermudians to not give up on their dreams," said the young Bermudian.

For as long as he can remember, Mr. Fray has wanted to be an architect, even though it would involve five years of study and a three-year internship before the final certification.

"I remember when he graduated (from Warwick Secondary) Randy Horton was the Principal and he went to Randy's office one morning and said `Mr. Horton, I want to be an architect'," explained Mr. Fray's mother Madelyn.

"Mr. Horton told him `Well, Warren Fray, you can be whatever you want to be'.

"Encouragement like that from Randy Horton, the family and friends really helped. He was a self motivated young man, he didn't let anything stand in his way.

"We are very proud of his achievements and just hope he goes on to achieve something higher. He is an inspiration to the rest of the young people in Bermuda, coming from parents who have worked hard along with him.

"None of the major scholarships were available to him and we are disappointed because he graduated from Pratt with the highest honours. Not getting the scholarship didn't set him back, he just pressed on.

"He would tell us all the time `everything is going to be alright, mom and dad'."

Mr. Fray entered studied at Pratt from 1990 to `95, graduating with the highest honours, and then worked in New York for a year "to get some practical training and work experience under my belt and to think about my options as far as grad school was concerned".

The following year the ambitious Bermudian enrolled at Southern California Institute of Architecture - a school started in 1972 by Ray Kappe and commonly known as SCI Arc - for his graduate programme which he completed in 1998.

As part of his internship, Mr. Fray worked for two years in California for various firms before coming back to New York in June 2000 and joining Gensler, the biggest architectural and interior design firm in the world. The company employs some 400 architects in New York alone!

After six months with them he joined the firm of Bermudian architect Kevin Burrows and his partner Paul Castrucci in January 2001, and has been with them ever since. Mr. Fray began taking his final exams in December of that year in order to become a registered architect in New York, a dream which was realised last month after a year of exams.

"You are required to do three years of internship before you can apply to sit the exam, but going to graduate school knocks off one of those years," said Mr. Fray.

"That's why after grad school I continued my internship and then took the exam. I took my first exam to be a registered architect in December, 2001."

Along the way he has encountered discrimination, but Mr. Fray continued to persevere in pursuit of his ultimate goal of becoming a registered architect. Now achieved, he is considering his options and hasn't ruled out returning to Bermuda, which was always his intention.

"One of the possibilities is to consider staying there and continue to grow or to possibly come here," he said this week.

"The goal as far as coming back to Bermuda has always been to start a company - a design and build company - with my brother and father who are contractors.

"I would design and then we would go out and build the house together. That is actually sounding very good and the way Bermuda's market is, I wouldn't mind being here to take advantage of the construction boom."

Back in 1993 and `94 The Royal Gazette ran articles on Warren Fray's goal of becoming an architect. He spoke then of being able to do something for his parents who made tremendous sacrifices for himself and his four other siblings. Michelle is a Fashion Designer, Monique a Chartered Accountant, Debra a Human Resource Manager and William (Jo Jo) who works in construction and used to have his own construction company.

Warren, too, worked in construction to save money for college, so he has experience there, too.

"My father has been in construction all his life and my brother followed him into the field and I, likewise, followed," said Mr. Fray.

He says he got to see some of the most creatively built houses in the world while living in California.

"There was very expressive, creative, futuristic architecture there. One of the architects there who I was most inspired by, who has since passed, is John Lautner, who was a pupil of Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the most famous American architects who ever lived.

"He was doing architecture up until he died and every building he did was something unlike the others."

Mr. Fray admired the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Paul Williams, the most famous black architect, and Sam Mockbee, a college professor in Baton Rogue, Louisiana.

"He (Mockbee) was a very intelligent man who grew up in the white part of the town and used to take the bus through the black part which was impoverished," said the Bermudian.

"He didn't know these people but he was curious about them and then he started to understand that they were people themselves, had history, so much talent and so much to offer that was being ignored.

"He had a programme where every semester he would take the students and they would pick one of the residents in that neighbourhood and would redesign their house, using the latest technology. This was recent because he just died last year.

"I came to know of him because he came to my school to lecture. He was considered to be the next Director of SCI Arc."

Mr. Fray was one of the top students in his class and was regularly on the President's List while at Pratt, which is one of the top architecture schools in the nation. He was a candidate for the Fullbright scholarship, but could not receive it because he wasn't an American.

And even though he also missed out on some of the top private scholarships in Bermuda, he pressed on.

"I got a student interest free loan from the Bank of Butterfield and a scholarship from the Bank of Butterfield for the last year I was at Pratt," he explained.

"Government used to give me the one they offered every year and Works and Engineering gave me a scholarship which I used for two years. Centre Re Insurance also gave me $5,000.

"The Works and Engineering one was with the requirement that I come back and work for the time for which I was awarded the scholarship, so I owe them two years or have to pay them back. The interest-free loan is also still outstanding."

Mr. Fray admits his time in New York and California has been one of persistence and determination, even against the odds.

"In California I graduated and did quite well but still had problems picking up work and the main problem was because I had the visa," he explained.

"At first I was a student of practical training, so anyone could hire me. But once that expired no one was willing to be obligated to have me on beyond that. A lot of firms turned me away instantly, even though they loved my work."

Mr. Fray also felt discrimination based on his race when going for jobs in both California and New York.

"Nowadays, with architects they give you a computer test to test your Auto Cad skills," he stated.

"You were given a time to perform a task and one firm, just after graduating, I sent them samples and they told me to come in. I took the test and passed.

"I was doing the test and had one simple task to do and the time was running out. The guy came over and said `you don't have to do that, you passed'. Then I meet with one of the principals who was going to interview me.

"He sits down with me and says `I'm so sorry, you failed the test, and not only did you fail but you failed miserably. I'm sorry, I'll have a look at your portfolio but I can't give you a job'."

Mr. Fray explained to him that he had already been told that he passed, but the man was insistent.

"He liked my work and said `call back in two weeks, there may be an opportunity to train you and improve your skills'. Two weeks later I call back, it was like they didn't even know I existed. It was `Warren, who?'

"I told them the name of the person I met with and they said `I'm sorry, I don't know him'. Six months later they had a job opportunity at my level open again and I sent them newer samples of my work and an updated resume.

"They immediately called me and when I got there it was like `it's him again'. You could see the expression on their faces."

He added: "They made me do the same test again and this time, according to them, I passed. I go into the interview room and administer a verbal test to me about the terminologies of Auto Cad and I had to answer correctly.

"All my friends who have interviewed at the same firm had never had to take that test, but they gave it to me. They got the jobs but I never did, even though my portfolio was stronger than theirs.

"I started to feel I was being discriminated against, not only because of my visa but also because I was black, and I felt that in a lot of the big firms that I went to. This one was the biggest firm in Los Angeles.

It happened to the Bermudian again at another big firm in California: "They said it was because of my visa, but when I looked around the office there were so many different nationalities there," he recalled.

"I bounced around and met a Korean guy - Young Lee - who was very nice to me and hired me when I was trying to find work. On practical training no one is committed to you, so I could work for anyone, but once you get a visa you have to be sponsored and have a firm hire you.

"I did (designed) a night club and did some other projects with him. He had his own firm in Koreatown. That sustained me while being there and also gave me the encouragement that I was still capable.

"I can't say outright that it was racism, but I just felt I was never given an opportunity to show what I was capable of. In so many ways they seemed to question what I had done, not questions like `you've done this, great, let's try this', but it was like `you've done this, how, and under what terms and conditions'?"

The situation wasn't much better back in New York where he again found himself being treated differently.

"I went there to work for a firm that was interested in bringing me there, but they didn't give me the royal treatment," he said.

"There was a girl who went to school with me who moved there to work for the same company and they paid her expenses to move her stuff there, gave her a signing bonus and other incentives. With me it was nothing, just that I got the job.

"From what I have experienced working in America, it is not how good you are or how hard you work, but who you know in the firm. I can't totally blame them, part of my demise was me and the fact I had never worked in such a large firm and didn't know firm politics.

"No one would advise me because they were all looking our for themselves."

After six months with that firm, Mr. Fray was taken on by Mr. Burrows and his partner. He has been doing a lot of work for them on brownstone renovations in Harlem, what they call `gut-rehab', as well as renovating low income housing for the city.

"Under Paul Castrucci, my main focus has been low income housing, where the city owns the buildings and want to give them up and not have to retain them into the future," he explained.

"They hire us through HPD (Housing Preservation Development) who hire architects who do up proposals on how we can renovate and fix these buildings which, once complete, the city turns over to the original tenants. That's the bread and butter of what we do at that firm."

The experience has been invaluable, but eventually he realises he will find his way back home.

"Any experience is worth obtaining if offered and can be very valuable to your growth," he says with no regrets.

"I was reading a book called `Power versus Force' which talks about how the whole world operates and essentially they were saying the world operates on force to bring results, but it is the power that brings results."

As he can, has become a role model to other young people, Mr. Fray also had his own mentors when growing up.

"Ian Gordon, the head principal at Entasis, was my mentor here who always gave me the opportunity to work with him," said Mr. Fray who designed a house in Knapton Hill at the age of 19.

"Even when construction was down and there wasn't much architecture going on, he would find something for me to do. I started out at Barker and Linberg when I was 16, my father got me the job, and that's when I first started pursuing this goal.

"Growing up in Bermuda, I didn't realise how diverse being an architect is. As far as I was concerned we did houses and maybe a building in Hamilton, but I didn't realise the depth of what architecture involved until I went away to school."

@EDITRULE:

Mr. Fray can be contacted at debox001hotmail.com