My Journey

I opened a book. The hardbound cover shows a pair of delicate illuminated hands holding a speckled stone against a black background. The title says "Maya Lin Boundaries".

About a week and half ago, I visited Borders where I bought this wonderful present for myself. I randomly selected the title as I remember this controversial, impacting and young student architect in 1980s from Yale.

I flipped through the pages. I had to stop and read. For the first few pages, her words laid across the page with simple backgrounds of nature's elements. Her written words rang a similar tone. I can identify what she was saying and conveying in her essays. I felt the connection of familarity that I no longer feel alone with my inner and outer thoughts of the world. In other words, I felt at home with myself by this awareness.

For all of my life, I denied my passion in arts until I decided to attend art classes.

My clues of being a true artist started from the beginning of my life. I was placed into a gifted program in the arts when I was a kindergartener; where I remembered I was drawing with older students and visited museums. My colors and drawings and books were choosen in competitions in grade school. I always drew closets, irises and houses. I bought numerous books pertaining to the arts. But nothing in the arts alarmed me that I should shake the world with my designing talents as a career.

I am saddened that I didn't figured out my true self sooner. Now I have. Every connection that I am making is become brighter and better. This book that Maya Lin has written is another stepping stone to add to my aesthetic impact to the world.

Now I am ready to add Harvard onto my path.

Completing Projects

I came to a realization on how to obtain true success in life. In order to have stability of income and recognition, I needed to complete every task and duty that I commit myself to. There is a start and ending point to every situation whether cooking a egg benedict with asparagus covered with a sweet bearnaise sauce to solving an economic aggregate demand problem with the fiscal national budget. Nothing can be built if it automatically gets destroyed at its first stage. Or something that just stays stagnate at the beginning.

I am learning that one point connects me to another point. Planning for my trip to the east coast and my future, I set aside action plans to complete.

One of them involves the Tacoma Art Museum. I became a volunteer for the Life Experiences Intergenerational Project Program for fall 2004 and spring 2005. It is an educational program that bridges a bonding relationship between middle school students and senior citizens together through art exhibitions, workshops and projects. After the program ended, there are side projects that need completion. I am volunteering with great enthusiasm and dedication to help Maija McKnight, Community Programs Coordinator. I am looking forward to working and apply my skills and experience into one neat package for the museum, program participants, and especially Maija. My accomplishments of program are that I started and finished every session and made longlasting connections with my passion in the arts and people interaction.

Another project deals with my assignment as a student recruiter for Babbles-On - a Toastmasters organization at Tacoma News Tribune. Toastmasters give the members and guests an opportunity to work and improve their public speaking in a supportive and fun environment. It is known and a commonality that public speaking is a person's number one fear.

At first, I was consumed with on-campus activities leaving no time for recruiting students to a meeting. The Toastmasters meetings are held at Tacoma News Tribune every Wednesday 1 p.m. As time went along, I fulfilled part of my duty as a student representative. I copied a memo that Steve Fuller and Jonathan Smith made for me. I pushpinned the copies onto the announcement boards all over campus. It felt great. I pushed it even further. I contacted Chuck Cline, the departmental chair of the the speech program. He mentioned that he was glad that I came by and discussed the recruiting process with him. I made a smile while and after my conversation with him. Now, things are progressing as I am waiting on a letter memo from Toastmasters and connect education with the newspaper industry because of my hardwork and dedication. This connection will lead me onto another great deed.

I am finding that I am keeping my words and following through my words with action is a viable asset to success. It is a system that works to my advantage. I am very grateful that I am learning this concept at an earlier age in my career and before starting a stable home life. As I work and build on this concept of completing all commitments, I am and will become a stronger role model for myself and others. Being a leader in my community, my next goal is to educate others on my knowledge whether it is in art history or solving a diluting purification problem of carbon dioxide on weathered grecian marble or the differences between organic and commerically grown vegetables.

Preparations

This is the last full week of classes. One by one, a whole quarter worth of assignments and tests are coming to an end. I am focusing on completing one item at a time. Besides my schooling, I have already brought out my suitcases and putting together my binder with plans, ideas, practical methods and designated theories.

The idea of living in Boston for this summer hasn't quite entered into my mind. I am dedicating my time and energy by doing the best that I can in my activities and school now.

I wanted to list a few ideas:

1. Collection of Pacific Northwest Themes
2. Favorite Artists
3. Photography of Architecture
4. Classical and Improvising Music
5. Analyses of Featured Speakers and Lecturers

I completed my docent training presentation at the Tacoma Art Museum. I will start my guided tours when I return.

The Beginnings to A Design Career At Harvard

Introduction

On May 21, I received an acceptance letter to a summer program held at Harvard Graduate School of Design also known as GSD. It is a six-week intensive program where my artistic and professional skills will be tested, tried and produced into one impressive portfolio to be viewed by well-reputable recruiters and professors from design programs at RISD, Columbia, Yale, MIT and more.

During my time at Harvard, I will be tri-paired with a professor, a professional individual in the field and myself. They will be my mentors and discipliners who will push the limits to bridge my connection of arts onto actual concrete works with art history, architecture, studio time, written and oral presentations, and ongoing designing process procedures. I read and researched that I will be in presence of people who topped their credentials and are respected by society on the greatest means and ends of their career.

I am fully honored to have this opportunity in my life. I wanted to share with my colleagues, friends, family, and who represented my life about my journey before, during and after my time at Harvard. I am thankful for all of your support and guidance. Without a network of people believing in me, I would be swimming barely breathing under a dock with no directional pull and tied to the bottom of the abyss. On the other hand......

I am sailing into my passion of the arts and my future.

Thank you,
Christina