All the world's a stage

Tevin's big smile and even bigger heart welcomed all to our LA 151 class this semester. She instantly connected with her classmates and helped everyone corral into a dedicated learning team. Tevin is an artist and a filmmaker. She is also an actress. Simply put, Tevin shines.

Yet Tevin has taught us an important academic lesson this semester. Early tenacity and inspiration are not enough by themselves - we must push through and last long enough to complete the final leg of this race that we call life (and school). Per Tevin, her bad academic habits can be defined as a strong start, a petering out, and a weak finish. She caught herself losing momentum as this semester dragged on and on. This summer, though, she has an important audition with a performance arts college in New York. This is a girl who will be a star - but will she be able to keep up the hard work and waning motivation to get things done, even when she doesn't want to? I think it's a safe bet to say that no matter what the future holds for Tevin, she will achieve great things. Here's her blog.

A little bit of everything

Na na na na, hey hey hey... GOODBYE.

I secretly sing that song in my head everytime I say Nae's name. Nae, of course, is our very own Annette Orduno, a connoisseur of art and design, an Advertising major, and a future cutting-edge curator of that which is and will be art de rigueur. Nae has brought a cool and introspective head to the class and helped push the other student's past their own academic blocks, unblocking her own creative aspirations in the meantime. This young woman wants it all - expertise, composition, technique, inspiration, collaboration. She has some really rad project ideas and all the potential in the world to get them done. Check out her blog here and especially her business card design. It's simply awesome. 

Who's that girl?

Walking into our Tuesday morning Seminar for Success, you will find your attention diverted immediately to the front of the classroom. Sitting just to the left of the teacher is a beautiful young woman, reapplying pink lipstick to her perfect, cupid's bow lips. Who's that girl?

Alisha McCall is a Fashion Merchandising major with a stubborn streak and an unwavering eye for detail. She is a stellar student and while her biggest challenge may be asking for an accepting help from others, she has worked hard at improving herself this semester. Check out her blog and final project here. 

The Great Motivator

When group project time rolled around this semester, there was one student who wouldn't stand for anything less than excellence in his group. Promising to get our perpetual latecomer, Adam, to class on time that day, Karl Muller made it is his personal mission to ensure that his group's project was the best that it could be. And it certainly was.

Karl not only worked his motivational magic on Adam, but on the entire class. He constantly and consistently pushed the students in our class to work harder, be better, and recognize challenges in order to confront them. Karl shared so much of himself, I am sure we will always remember him as the great motivator of LA 151. Here is Karl's blog and final project. I recommend that all of you keep an eye on Karl's photojournalism from here on out. This accomplished US Army veteran is going to be part of some great things.

Wanderlust

Andi is the global perspective in our class. He was born in Malaysia, but raised all over the world. Before coming to San Francisco, he lived in Brussels. Andi studies Industrial Design but has a love affair with Architecture. Andi's contributions to our class this semester have been insightful, grounded, and very poignant. I very much look forward to seeing the work of this future World Designer. Check out his blog and final project here.

Fuzzy Little Baby Waby Aminals

I recently took a trip to Napa's Enchanted Hills Camp for a program committee meeting. It was beautiful there and the meeting was innovative and productive, but the best part was making friends with this little itty bitty baby goat.

I am a sucker for animals, which is why I was so engrossed in reading Mackenzie's latest blog post, "Animal Love." Mackenzie is a fashion student with a hear of gold. Check out her final project and passion for green and animal-friendly design here. 

Business Card

As you may recall, one of the requirements of this blogging project is to feature a protocol of a business card - the ultimate currency of professional identity.

After showing the class my own past brainstorming ideas for a card design, I promised I would make my own protocol this time around as well. Here is my best effort after about 2 hours of trying to figure out how to get a picture underneath text using Microsoft Word. What do you think?

I hope (and expect) that the students' business card protocols will turn out a lot better. I look forward to seeing everyone's creativity and professionalism!