Sunday is full of promise.

It is Sunday night. For some people, it might be a time to dread the Monday that is filled with trepidation about work that is piled up and another week of school. For me, Sunday night is always a time to look forward to the day that I am going to get to have with the students. I guess that is part of the thing that I love so much about my job - working every day with the enthusiasm of young artists. Don't kid yourself, it is not 100% wonderful 100% of the time... we have our days... but, I get to see the creativity of developing art, design, photography and illustration students every day that I teach. Some days it is one or another of them who really stands apart. Other weeks we all struggle with something new. But every day we get to be creative. There is a lot to be said for that!

I am not counting the days until summer, although I know that some of my senior students are. June brings graduation, and many of them have some very exciting college plans. It is hard not to be gaining enthusiasm by the day about their next chapter. Some will go to design schools like SCAD or CalArts or Art Center. Some will go to university programs at Texas Tech or UNT. Others will go to community colleges to begin and then transfer to other programs to finish up their degrees. What is great to me is that they have plans! There are not many who just "don't know" what the next step is. That is one of the best things about career and technical education. It provokes students to strive for a goal and to find what they want in life before experiencing it for the first time in college. I wish so much that I could have started in design before I got to college. I majored in design and didn't even have any art classes in high school! That is a scary way to start out. I am excited for my students and constantly feel encouraged by the accomplishments of the ones who get out into the world of business. There is quite an accomplished group of alumni that has come through the DJCC Ad Design program during my time there.

I am preparing for the next chapter as well. Interviews for my position are underway. DJCC deserves a great teacher, so I am excited to see who we will welcome to the Media Arts team. Life is very rich right now, and every day is very exciting.

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