My Most Important Lesson at VCC’'s Graphics Program

Article and Visual interpretation provided by Claudia Mundlos in Kristy Pennino’s Advanced Graphic Design II course.

Coming from Germany, a country where everything seems to be complicated and difficult, it was a big change to move to the USA, the country of the American Dream, where everything is possible and quite frankly, everything seems to be easy.

Now, the last thing I want to imply here is that Valencia’s Graphic Program is easy. It has taught me though that everything is possible.

Here’s my story: Was my Graphics degree planned? Not at all. The truth is that I needed to find an “inexpensive” college, one where the out of state tuition isn’t just simply killing you, to obtain a visa to stay in the country of my choice. In Germany I had always dreamt of studying design, be it fashion design or graphic design. However, as already mentioned, in a country where everything tends to be complicated, your dreams are often shattered. So I had to keep my feet on the ground and just accept that design was something for highly talented art students.

When I met with the VCC admissions officer to apply for my degree here, she asked me what I was planning to study. Not knowing anything about VCC, I grabbed the list of degrees and browsed through it. I was very surprised to see Graphic Design on the list because in my country you just don’t walk into a school and study Graphic Design. That is something only a chosen few with experience and talent get to do. So I thought, why not? I checked the degree and gave the sheet to the counselor.

Now, the truth is, in my first semester I did not take a single graphic design related class, in fact I didn’t even take a class that I needed at all for this degree. My plan was to leave school and look for a job as soon as my green card situation was in place. Well, needless to say, it took longer than I had planned for that to happen, so in my second semester I gave Graphic Design a try. The reason why I hadn’t started to this point was because I was so scared of being disappointed at myself, for not being highly talented. In Germany I would have never made it into a Graphic Design program, so I still couldn’t understand how I could just walk in here and start my degree in this field. The other reason why I doubted the degree was because I thought if everyone can study it, it can’t be that good, so why even bother?

Then I walked into my first Graphics class. I will never forget how excited I was. It was real. It was happening. I was officially a Graphic Design student and treated as such. There was talk about design. Talk about how we would all go off after graduation working in the industry. I could not believe I was in the middle of all of this. One of the greatest things VCC has given me is self esteem about my design and my ideas. I have learned that there is something positive about every idea you have. Yes, it can be improved very often, but the constructive criticism and positive feedback you get here is wonderful. It does not limit your creativity; it inspires you to do more. You learn to think bold. You value the world around you and see things with different eyes. In many ways VCC has brought back my creativity from childhood that has been suppressed in my home country with negative talk and limitations. I finally started believing in my forgotten dream again. I am capable; I can do it if I want to. Everyone can walk into VCC and try it. I have to say thank you for giving everyone the opportunity to prove themselves. Thank you for not killing creativity and art in its earliest stages. I have learned that everything can be learned. I have learned that teachers and students alike see, value and believe in you and your art. And isn’t this what art is all about?