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.

Gary Rosenberg

This relates to my martial arts training classes. Early in our training, the Sensei said we must learn to emulate the rule “Strong mind, strong body.” At the time, exhausted from the drills, I dismissed this statement as a cliche. Read more>>

Jake Wheeler

I attended the University of Tennessee, where I earned a BFA in Graphic Design. Initially, I intended to be a studio art major specializing in mixed media. Read more>>

Yohan Lewis

The most important lesson I’ve learned in school was when I was in 12th grade at U of D Jesuit. The lesson learned was basically failure doesn’t define you, it builds you up so next time you can do better then before. Read more>>

Isabela Torres

In my experience at Lane Community College, I learned a pivotal lesson about the importance of collaboration and askinf for help within your community for creative endeavors. Read more>>

Levi Siegelman

One of the most impactful lessons I learned in school came from a seventh-grade project where I had to research prices for soap-making supplies. I was struggling to compare prices until my teacher realized my difficulty stemmed from not knowing how to make phone calls. Read more>>

Dwight Yee

The most impactful lesson I learned from school was that you can’t treat your work as precious. I learned this my first year in Architecture School. We were asked to create a series of drawings that we then turned into a 3-d model.  Read more>>

Loren Rosario-Maldonado

In the midst of pursuing my Master’s degree, life threw me into a storm of challenges that tested my resilience in ways I could never have foreseen. Read more>>