Kaylee Xiong Memorial Scholarship

Fascinated by art at a young age, I knew exactly what I wanted to pursue later in life, despite the bleak future as an artist. Unfortunately, my desires were unimportant in the face of our harsh economy. Here, people acknowledged my talents, but not my determination. To them, a career in art was worth less than working at the gas station down the street; it wasn’t a ‘real’ job. So, I settled for maintaining my passion as a hobby and aimed at my second option: computer science. Technology has always been a huge part of my life. I’ve always been glued to a screen, playing an assortment of games online, enchanted by the bold, brightly colorful visuals. The best part was that no game was designed the same, keeping me hooked and curious about the differences. I wouldn’t understand the behind the scenes in their designs until my sophomore year of high school, when I finally got a taste of the Graphic Design pathway. Graphic Design introduced me to a new option combining both of my interests and having the economic and educational support I had always worried about. It became a safe space that encouraged me to chase my hesitant aspirations. In fact, perhaps the most important thing the pathway has taught me was to be comfortable expressing myself without regrets. With its support, the pathway guided me in polishing both my hard and soft skills. I learnt how to use some of the most popular softwares on the market and its limitless possibilities. With Adobe illustrator I created solid vector art for my own designs and developed a personal logo. Through Adobe Photoshop, I understood how photos are refined and edited to fit magazines, movie posters, and surrealistic art. By playing around with Canva, I could quickly create smooth slideshows to showcase my work and promotional posters. I even got to tinker with Blender, which was not explicitly taught, but was available to me through the pathway. Despite my strong focus on my development in hard skills, this pathway offered up an many opportunities to improve my proficiencies in communication and professionalism. For example, over the summer of 2024, I was given the opportunity to work with Distill Creative Studio to create a poster for Seaside Oregon, through my teacher. Despite the initial help in the beginning, the entire process of designing and engaging with the studio was left to me. The experience from this event was able to give me a glimpse into the real world for designers that was enough to entirely improve my soft skills, still retained today. Easier said than done, everything I’ve learnt was not without my own challenges. The greatest thing I’ve struggled with was trying to learn how to properly express my intentions through my designs without overcomplicating them. Struggling with trying to do everything at once, the pathway has helped me learn how to take things slowly and try new things. Much of this growth is credited to Ms. B and her patience with all of her students, alongside my wonderful team members in Graphic Design Leadership, the student leadership program within the pathway. I am confident that I will never forget my experience in the Graphic Design Pathway, as I intend to continue using these skills in the future to pursue a higher education in Game Design. As both a member and a leader of the program, I hope my work will inspire future students to establish themselves in our colorful world with their own original designs.