While in Savannah, Lexie Stoebenau is a dedicated captain of SCAD's equestrian team. She cares about the horses she rides and the teammates she practices with. But when she visits home, Honolulu, Hawaii, she spends her time underwater.

Lexie was born into the scuba industry, and she shared her parents's love for diving early on. After her first dive at age ten, she was hooked. "I love nothing more than poking around in the reef and seeing what I can find," she says. Lexie completed her Dive Master certification with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) as an eighteen-year-old, the youngest a Dive Master can be.

During school breaks spent working as a scuba excursion guide, Lexie shares her love and knowledge of Hawaii's aquatic landscape with tourists from all over the world.  "I get a lot of customers who have done a hundred dives in California and never in Hawaii and it's a completely different underwater landscape," she says. "Being the person to open that door for them is incredible."

It didn't take a lot of brainstorming for Lexie to decide what she would do her interior design capstone project about. "I'm interested in hospitality, and I want to educate people better about diving," she says.  

With 25 weeks to create, design, and pitch a new ten-thousand square foot interior design concept, Lexie started work on Hihimanu Hale: A Reef Restoration resort. A scuba-centered hotel that offers lessons, training programs, and educational resources to divers of all levels.

The concept offers Lexie a variety of unconventional spaces to design, alongside her take on the lobby and restaurant. She approached the build thinking about biomimicry. By mimicking the environmental changes that a diver will see when entering the ocean, the interior designer can subconsciously ease the customer's nerves before their next dive. "There are no predators, there are no elements, but your brain is still thinking like an animal," Lexie says. To counteract the instinctual fear first timers have during trainings, she designed a cozy, dark space for introductory classes. "Where does a fish feel safe? Tucked into a nook in the reef."
Allowing divers to be comfortable in the educational spaces is vital for the mission of Hihimanu Hale. "Coral health is top of mind for me. People don't realize how crucial it is to human life," Lexie says. "It's not usually top of mind for tourists coming to Hawaii so it's something I always teach my divers." Outside of the educational areas for divers doing PADI training courses, the plan includes a coral education lab available to guests. As a scuba instructor Lexie observed that most customers had questions about the things they saw in a reef while diving. Representing Hawaii's aquatic landscape in the design as well as the coral lab further encourages customers to respect the ocean and it's inhabitants.

Lexie's interest in aquatic education through artistic ventures is already in full focus through her small business lexiefish. She surprised herself in Drawing II by drawing a Caribbean Reef Squid she couldn't wait to show off. "I had never drawn an animal before, much less an oceanic animal. I'd barely touched the colored pencils," she says. She drew a few more animals and bought sticker packs for her family. Quickly, she saw interest from friends who wanted to carry them in local stores. Now her work is being sold in surf shops internationally. "It's really rewarding," she says. "It's one of my driving causes, the more you see it the more comfortable you are with it."
And even after showing love to every animal in the ocean, Lexie has plenty to spare for the horses she rides.

Equestrian was a surprise path in Lexie's life. She was twelve the first time she rode. "I took one lesson and literally never stopped," she says. In Hawaii, the competition circuit is limited but she was still able to show through USHJA Outreach. Her passion for interior design and equestrian made SCAD the perfect option for her collegiately, and not a spark of that passion has dwindled over the four years she's spent on the team. Although she has high hopes for her creative career, Lexie is still cherishing the rest of the time she has left with her team. "On the days where it's hard, I'm really proud to be one of the people who my teammates come to," she says. "My biggest colligate achievement is being equestrian team captain."