Sklarek earned her Bachelor of Architecture degree from Columbia University in 1950, one of very few Black women in her program.
In 1950, Norma Merrick graduated from the School of Architecture at Columbia University with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. She was one of only two women in her graduating class and the only African American, entering a profession that had almost no representation of Black women at the time.
Despite her degree, Sklarek initially struggled to find employment; she later recalled applying to nineteen firms and being rejected by all of them, likely due to both her race and gender. She eventually found work with the New York City Department of Public Works before passing the licensing examination.
Her graduation from Columbia represented a critical foothold in a profession defined by exclusivity, and it set the stage for her subsequent licensing achievements, which would make her a trailblazer for women and people of color in American architecture.