Last Semester Of College

A Long Journey

Last week I began the last semester of my bachelor’s degree. At the tender age of 43-years-old, I must say that it’s been a road. Every time I think about a milestone in my life it reminds me of how I need to work on my autobiography. If you haven’t met me and don’t know my past, it’s been quite an interesting story. I will have to put off writing that autobiography until I can find the free time between studying for tests, homework assignments and commuting to class.

Twisting Path

College, for me, started at the Columbus State Community and Technical College in 1992. It was the fall after my senior year and after my accident, and not going off to AIT for the Army, I was stuck in this “what do I do now” phase. More on that another day. Two of my favorite classes were Psychology 101 and Basic Technical Drafting. Both are counting towards the degree I will earn in May.

Back to the Books… Again.

Fast forward to 2006, after a fun-filled career in whitewater (again, more for the autobiography) I returned to school at New River Community and Technical College. There I finished my Associates of Science in Communications Technology. It was a fun introduction to web design, graphic design, photography and video. To be true, I didn’t even have to take the class on video. My years as a video boater counted as credit. I just had to do a midterm and a final video.

Graphic Design at Tech

2008 took me to West Virginia University Institute of Technology, or Tech for short. I was a graphic design major there and made some really great friends. Interestingly enough, those friends were my professors because they were closer in age to me than I was to the other students.

Final Stretch

Here I am with one semester to go. Finally. I wasn’t sure if I would ever finish my degree. I wish my dad could see me now. Even though I didn’t become a firefighter like him and I chose to spend my youth chasing whitewater, all he ever wanted from me and my sisters was for us to finish college. Cheri and Carrie both finished up at the typical age.

My Senior Show

In May I will have earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in Art with a Specialization in Digital Photography. That’s quite a mouthful and an entire line of type. I have an Art History class and History of Graphic Design class that I am really enjoying. I really like the Art Department at West Virginia State University. They really put their heart and soul into the program and it means a lot to me as a student.

The highlight of this semester will be my senior show. It will be in May. The other graduating seniors and I will be preparing for our show. Part of that preparation includes maintaining an online journal, which I will do here.

Starring Paryss as The Candy Girl

Featuring Zane as The Patron

Rockwellian Style

The subject of my show will be my depiction of scenes in a Rockwellian style. The idea for this subject came from the featured image in this article. I just thought this was a fun image and my advisor used the term to describe it. Sounded great to me because West Virginia is full of all kinds of nostalgic locations that haven’t changed much since they were first built, much of them in the mid-twentieth century.

Casting Call

I will be looking for models to pose in these scenes and if that sounds like fun to you, please use the contact form below to send me a message. I would really like to thank my neighbors, Sydney, Zane and Paryss for helping me out with this picture. Those costumes are fabulous and the fact that they spent their time putting them together means a lot to me.