September 17, 2024 Image What surprised you the most about the Pre-College Summer Session?What surprised me the most about the PCSS program was the workload and how much I grew to love the busy schedule. I attend an art high school already, and the workload feels about the same as PCSS but with academics added on my shoulders, so I assumed I’d feel the same amount of stress as I do at my school due to correlating stress with art school. But while I was here, that wasn’t the case, I’d say I’ve never been happier to attend art school. And it wasn’t only the art that brought joy, it was the positivity that was shown throughout the people and atmosphere.What aspect of the program had the biggest impact on you?The aspect of the program that had the biggest impact on me was definitely the teachers/faculty. For me, I’d say one of the most important things for someone to do as a teacher is to listen, and that’s exactly what mine did here at PCSS. It felt good to have an ear that was willing to listen and to have someone provide wisdom and advice to any of my questions or concerns with care. Not only that, but as someone who has been nervous about deciding whether or not to attend an art college, seeing the passion within the faculty and all the things I could do within my artistic practice has made me decide that art school would be my first choice, and I thank the teachers and faculty here for that as they helped me generate ideas of what I could potentially do as an artist in the future.How has your artistic practice changed from being a part of the program?My artistic practice has changed a lot. Usually I take a lot of breaks when making my art, but having solidified studio time and being surrounded by other artists, this program has helped me become more grounded when it comes to managing my time. And because of this, I feel like I have a better grasp at getting things done at a steady pace considering the limited time we had to work on projects. What was your favorite experience outside of the classroom?My favorite experience outside the classroom was definitely both having the guest speaker “Linda Black Elk” come to campus to teach us about medicinal plants, and visiting Minnehaha Falls. The reason behind these two being my favorite outside activities is because I personally love learning about plants and medicine and I incorporate the two in my art often and it felt great to learn from someone in person and interact with the plants compared to reading about them from a book. One other reason why these two experiences were my favorite is because I come from Texas and the environment in Minneapolis is completely different. And one thing that stuck out to me that Linda had said when visiting was, if you’re not in your comfort zone and are in an unfamiliar setting, get to know your plants around you and that’ll help make yourself feel more at home. And I feel like that heavily correlates with being surrounded by nature at Minnehaha falls, which had helped me accustom to the atmosphere and get to know the land that has given me many positive memories.What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about coming to the Pre-College Summer Session at MCAD?Advice I’d give to someone who is thinking about coming to the PCSS at MCAD is to not only focus on creating to the best of your abilities, but to have fun. This program is a really great opportunity to make new friends, experience a new level of independence, learn from very intelligent artists, and discover new things about yourself when it comes to your artistic practice.