#hummingcrab gratuates

[fierce-hummingcrab]

My college graduation ceremony! I earned my associates in graphic design 🎉

Believe it or not, the mini prints of my work is only a fraction of what I have made during my time spent at my community college. I take pride in how I chose to attend MCC instead of diving right into a four year college, not just because I’m not neck deep in college debt, but what I value most from my career at MCC are the connections and memories that I have made there.

Every drive I made to my classes was like going to my fourth home (my other homes being my mom’s, dad’s and grandparents’). After taking many courses in the DGM and Art departments over the course of several years, you tend to see a lot of familiar faces. Among all those people that I had the pleasure of collaborating, giving and receiving critiques with, I never would have thought that I would meet my best friend Allison.

We’ve had one or few classes with each other in the past but didn’t talk too much with each other, until we were in a mixed class of Graphic Design one and two, which also happened to be taught by my role model. I’ve been in many friend groups throughout my life so far, maybe even had a close friends here and there but I don’t think I’ve ever had a “best friend”. And I was starting to think that I never would. But a new door was opened when I was able to get to know Allison. She’s a photoshop wizard, a fellow skull enthusiast, highly skilled designer, eyeliner expert, dedicated Disney fan, Dunkin’ Doughnut vanilla latte connoisseur, animal lover (who is now the mother of my leopard gecko Pablo). More importantly she has always been my rock, she’s practically my sister. Allison is someone I can come to for a second opinion, whether it be life stuff or art stuff, a shoulder to cry on, someone to make adventures with, she’s especially good at keeping me in check when I get oddball ideas and lending a hand on my hijinks. Which is often. Allison is more than what I deserve in a best friend and I am very grateful that I crossed paths with her in my lifetime.

As for my role model Justin Schmitz, Justin has this incredible creative drive that pushes him to put so much extensive labor into his projects until he gets his visions to manifest, he's funny, witty and isn't afraid to befuddle his students with obscure references from his generation or the unfamiliar corners of the art world that went over my head at times. My kind of juice and jam. Not only is he a great photography/graphic design professor, but he is able to keep his own creative endeavors on the side alive and well. He's able to make a stable living as a professor while going in any direction he wants with his own photography series and the occasional commissions he gets. He has inspired me to push myself by any means of reaching my full potential as an artist and person. His extensive knowledge of technological and artistic disciplines would always blow me away. Of course he’s well rounded in those regards, he has years of experience, a masters degree under his belt. But how he projects himself in his loud and unique nature is what makes me want to be able to take on the world like he does. What I appreciated about taking a class with him is that he was always invested in what fellow students were creating, gave us his thoughts on how to better our work, and then would take a step back to allow us to explore a combination of ideas. But what I appreciated most about him as a professor and a creative, he would always support me and my ideas whenever I hit a roadblock, I will always remember his compassion.

The Professors of the DGM and Art department have provided me with the skills of not only pushing myself as a creator, how to be self motivated, how to conceptualize an idea and articulate my reasoning behind the idea, I must push myself outside my comfort zone in order to add more skills to my tool belt, to have fun with what I'm making and how to legally protect my ideas.

Moving forward I plan to find some internships in the graphic design field to gain some experience as I look into options for a four year school to earn my Bachelors in graphic design OR take a different route. One thing is for certain, I will continue to create and pride myself as an artist, a graphic designer, a wildlife enthusiast, a cartoon junkie, bone collector an independent woman.

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