This post is being done much later than I had originally planned, but I just had to get something out for CCS Awareness Week!

Before attending CCS I was a bit lost.  I had just graduated from Castleton State College with a degree in children’s literature.  It was the best time of my life up to that point, but what was I going to do with an English diploma?  I didn’t want to teach, and I didn’t have enough (if any) confidence in my art to make children’s books.  See, while attending Castleton, I cultivated my story telling muscle and let my drawing one atrophy.  I hadn’t drawn comics seriously since high school.

Then something wonderful happened.  About a week before graduation, a fellow student gave me the link to a very young CCS website.  He and I got our career counselor (a fellow artist) to bring us to White River and take the tour.  Robyn Chapman was the first CCS faculty member that I met, and she showed us everything from the Hotel Coolidge to the Shultz Library.

That was it for me.  CCS was calling my name in big bold letters!   For the next two years I toiled in menial employment to save up money for the school.  For a time I forgot why I was working so hard, but then I returned to CCS for Portfolio Day, and that’s when I met Steve, Alec, James, Jason, Valerie and Michelle.  There powers combined helped to reinvigorate my art muscle, and I started my own web comic upon returning home!

In 2008 my mother passed away unexpectedly.  This was the most difficult time in my entire life, but it didn’t weaken my resolve.  After dealing with her assets and selling her house (my childhood home), I finally had the means financially to attended CCS!  I sent my application out straight away and, without even having an interview, was accepted only a few short weeks later!

The Center for Cartoon Studies has felt like a new home to me; a new beginning.  I’ve learned so much here and have met so many amazing people.  This is an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything!