We asked some of the brightest folks from within the community to reflect back on their days in school and to share with us a story of when they learned a particularly important or impactful lesson. We’ve shared highlights below.

Faith Winston

During my college years, I discovered that achieving mastery in craftsmanship requires continuous practice. I dedicated countless hours to honing my sewing skills, enhancing my design abilities, and refining my creativity. Even to this day, I remain committed to learning and adopting new techniques. Furthermore, I recognized that craftsmanship demands a high degree of precision, patience, and a profound understanding of the craft. Sewing, depending on the project, can be quite meticulous and time-consuming. It’s important to note that fashion extends far beyond the glitz and glamour. Read more>>

Jade Flogerzi

I have a very untraditional college education. I dropped out of nursing school when I was 19 because I was so depressed imagining my life as a nurse. Instead, I worked as a restaurant server, and before I knew it, ten years passed. I didn’t want to be a server anymore. I loved that marketing was a blend of business and creativity and the variety of jobs to choose from, and I enrolled at our local city college to pursue it as a major. Read more>>

Nesa Grider

Growing up when women’s sports were undervalued and underrepresented was a defining aspect of my journey. Despite the prevalent inequalities, it fueled my determination and strengthened my resolve to break through those barriers. I played all the sports I could, basketball, volleyball, softball, and track, even completing at the highest levels of Karate for years. Read more>>

Michael Morgan

I’ve shared this story a lot recently and think it’s worth sharing more widely. In college, I had a tough illustration professor. Whenever a student put a drawing on the board, harsh criticism was almost guaranteed; sometimes our work was even torn up. I didn’t understand anxiety back then, but that class was my first encounter with it. We spent most days drawing with charcoal, following the professor’s demonstrations before experimenting on our own. Read more>>

Peter Hanna

Before I dove head first into building my own company in the music industry, I was studying Computer Science at UCF (University of Central Florida) in Orlando. The important lesson I learned in college was that I could apply everything I’ve learned in my courses to my daily life, even when I didn’t think I could at first. I love to use all the high level math courses I had to complete as an example. Sure, I didn’t see “y=mx+b” or the “Pythagorean Theorem” everyday but math teaches you a lot of valuable life lessons. All the high level Calculus courses I took for my major shaped who I am today because they taught me how to Critically think, Problem solve, Interpret Data, and much more. Read more>>

Christian Chang

I used to have a surprisingly myopic view of what it took to become an artist. I think I just wanted to believe that if I worked hard enough to master my craft, things would work out smoothly. But in art school, I was caught off guard by how many other skills we were told we’d have to learn alongside art. In hindsight, I guess that should have been an obvious fact, but even after being told that skill alone wouldn’t get me far, I still had a difficult time grasping that idea. Being an easy person to work with, getting things done on time, just being polite and friendly. I knew intellectually that these things mattered, but I don’t think I quite understood how important people skills were. Another concept that I spent most of my time in school struggling with was doing things for the sake of doing them. Read more>>

Mia Tsai

In my non-writing life, I’m a musician with a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over years of study (and also a long career). Improvisation has been central aspect of my schooling, and in the process of learning and getting better, I began applying principles of improvisation to my life in general. I studied and continue to study Dalcroze eurhythmics, which is, in short, a method through which movement is used to teach music. A Dalcroze instructor will improvise music for the students during lessons, and that takes a lot of training to do. Dalcroze and improvisation taught me that I don’t have to run out of choices, that mistakes are, as Bob Ross said, happy little accidents. They’re also inspiration. Mistakes are other paths you didn’t know you could take toward a goal, and to turn a mistake around is to be present in the process. Read more>>

gumslide

This one is a bit of a bummer, but ultimately led to great revelations :) I went to college in the mountains of NC for 2 fall semesters. I was going for Studio Art against the wishes of my family. I really loved the freedom, the environment, and the time to focus on my art. I was 18, and getting to live independently was something I was extremely unprepared for. My family kept me pretty sheltered and afraid of the outside world, something I’m still learning to unlearn. Read more>>