@_wondrousjackie_

Art is essential to everyday life, at times in plain sight. Some believe that art isn’t all that important, however when it comes to visual communications, the arts’ significance is proven even if it isn’t in the traditional form it is expected to be in. Visual communications can create a positive impact since it’s done in an intentional manner where everything created is done with purpose, a field meant to convey messages a client desires while simultaneously creating a visual product best representing the client’s business or company to their liking and specifically for my case, open the doors of opportunity to success by being bilingual. At its core visual communications or as it’s more commonly referred to as graphic design, serves the unique goal of using art in business and companies. In full, visual communications is the art of making logos, typography, posters, and other forms of digital visual media designed with the purpose of helping a business or company be presentable professionally while still delivering the message a client asks for while also reeling in the client’s targeted consumer audience. By going into the graphic design industry, I can make a difference by directly helping businesses and companies succeed with meaning and not just by purely making visually appealing art to do it. As messages are delivered/conveyed using visual communications, being fluent in English and Spanish proves to be vital. Although it is possible to create digital work that can be understood by practically anyone no matter their language, when it comes to the usage of text, the power of knowing more than one language comes in handy. Being able to utilize Spanish in my work as a Mexican American woman is a game-changer for Spanish-speaking business and company owners because then, I have the ability to help improve their work and in a way, give back to the minority community of ethnicities whose main language is Spanish; thus assist them to have a higher chance at success. In conclusion, graphic design on its own already makes a positive impact whenever it’s involved with anything but when done professionally and having a genuine understanding of it, it truly makes a difference into how a business or company is perceived. To put it into perspective, visual communications will either make or break businesses and companies so when done well, corporations are able to thrive as a result.

At all stages of life, one is presented with many choices that could potentially result in positive or negative outcomes, many of which are food related. Most everyone is aware that consuming healthy food will provide a more satisfying life compared to eating unhealthy food, however, not everyone is able to afford the option of having a healthy diet. Those able to have healthy eating habits possess useful advantages for everyday life, consequently, both physically and mentally. Physical aspects of one’s life can be improved by possessing healthy eating habits that allow one to be significantly stronger in terms of strength, endurance, and general mobility. People are able to obtain vitamins and minerals from healthy foods thus building up their immunity defense mechanism to be better able to prevent common sicknesses or if caught with an illness, be better equipped to fight it off within a shorter period of time much more easily. Furthermore, intaking necessary nutrients allows those with healthy eating habits the ability to have improved physical abilities such as the handling of taking groceries from the car to inside one’s home, going up the stairs, and the simple act of walking or moving oneself around is a testament. Physically, healthy eating habits give the energy that one requires to get things done. Just like with the physical, the mental aspect also improves but through granting a person a more active role in the decision-making and what it means for a person’s mental health. Healthy eating habits allow people to focus and concentrate on presented tasks, even if they’re not school related. Of course, it makes working on assignments, projects, etc easier to manage, such as being able to gain a better understanding of a subject or have the energy to pay attention in class; even the simple act of getting to class is a testament to how valuable having healthy eating habits is. In terms of doing nonschool-related tasks, paying attention to the road when driving is a necessity in daily life which is better done with healthy eating habits, not just purely based on a person’s state of their body. Even then, one’s mental health can drastically be affected depending on their eating habits. Mentally, healthy eating habits are what provide the need to keep going forward. Both physical and mental facets benefit from having healthy eating habits, even if it is admittedly more noticeable from the physical side of things. Nonetheless, healthy eating habits can help anyone no matter where they may be in their lives, from a person with nothing to their name to someone else who has everything; both being guaranteed a higher probability of success as a result.

Communities all across the world, although very different, all share the similar trait of needing unity in order to be formed in the first place, so leading examples would be in order. Accordingly, positive change to career fields on a global scale by leveling the playing field would yield that result so, as a female of color going into the graphic design field that includes the aspect of marketing whose ultimate end goal is to become a creative director, I can strengthen that sense of unity by succeeding in my career with my education. For my local community, my success exemplifies the extreme competence hard work delivers even with my background in hand. Even if resources do play a part in a process and the result, nothing is possible without the initiative that is needed to be taken to make it happen. The results speak for themselves, giving the message of anyone being able to be limitless in what one puts their mind to. Inspiration may seem a tacky cause for a positive impact but it does happen when a community faces constant hardships from various circumstances. Even with constant barriers in the way, the want to be successful greatly assists in the long run so inspiration showing its possible is a true game changer, even more so if there is more than one example to look up to. On a more worldwide scale, the Hispanic, Latino, Latinx, and even Spanish-influenced communities the same can be said about bringing people together through proven success. Success helps bring family and friends together, it means a better living standard for those successful and those around said, successful people. To provide perspective, graphic design or visual communications is work that consists of giving messages without relying heavily on the use of text, transcending language barriers, so in a way opening the doors to not only my known community but to others as well through my work. Attaining success will be no easy task, especially not without education in the picture. Education is power in every sense of the word, granting one’s visions to come to fruition and for communities to come together when it is needed most in today’s state, it is necessary. Some might not think pursuing a higher education is as valuable as it was in the past but any education is valuable education, it just depends on how one chooses to use it.

Culture has always been an inarticulate topic in my household, where it’s not that my immigrant parents didn’t want to talk about our Mexican culture but it was something I had to seek out to learn more about from being constantly surrounded by American culture. The only things I ever had to go off from were my parents’ childhood stories and differences between the US and Mexican governments, which led to a certain level of disconnect between my parents to me as a whole, causing me to struggle with my sense of identity. Growing up as the oldest, I bore astute witness to the differences between the two cultures then back to innocent ignorance by attending predominantly Hispanic public schools which allowed me to not feel alienated from the small known social groups I had at the time. Thankfully as a part of a very diverse community such as Ferris, I was able to flourish academically, even pursuing college courses in high school and so bit by bit knowledge of my culture expanded in both actual Mexican culture and Chicano culture. Sure, they don’t equal one another in terms of the amount of knowledge I've gained from each but both have contributed significantly to who I am today by providing insight to something I hope to one day experience. What I did struggle with concerning my relationship with my parents was mainly the language barrier. I was fortunate enough to be very fluent in Spanish for as my parents, my mother only knows basic mannerisms in English and my father is able to hold a decent conversation in said English causing me to naturally grow closer to my dad and struggle with Mom. It made things difficult since I spent more time with Mom than Dad, even more so with the contrast of conservative opinions she held to the liberal views I was exposed to daily here in the United States. It’s a feat I still struggle with today, as a young adult wanting to live a good life as bestowed by my parents’ continuous hard work; these conflicting viewpoints certainly cause anxiety for the future that is to come for change is a sure thing that comes from one new generation to the next. Although the only type of adversity I have faced up to this point in my life has been with getting to know my own culture and having my own identity, I hope that my future success as a first-generation student starting university next year can be helpful to not only others in my family and race but to other people of color such as myself from any and all backgrounds to know that having success is possible.

“Mija, siempre prioriza la educación más que nada, pase lo que pase” was what my parents always told me or as it is in English, “Daughter, make sure to always prioritize your education more than anything, no matter what.” It was something they each were unfortunately unable to do by not having acquired a high school education. Now, graduating as a part of the Class of 2023, I reflect on how the future may be unpredictable, but I plan on using my success in my chosen career field of graphic design to showcase what a Mexican-American woman such as myself can create using higher education; thus inspiring others of similar background to pursue their dreams. The field of graphic design, also known as visual communications is an area tasked with delivering visually conveyed messages to paying clients’ needs for their businesses from an assortment of digital creations. In the field of graphic design, I could help give rise to small Mexican-owned businesses and level out the playing field for those that need it most and further expand to helping small businesses owned by various nationalities & cultures. All in all, I would be creating a positive impact in my community by literally creating to help these businesses receive the recognition they deserve. Away from others to spotlight myself individually as a person, it has always been difficult to describe myself without sounding full of myself or holding any ounce of arrogance. For as long as I can remember, I have always been a person of integrity, partly as it was proven to be a highly valued concept that transcended as an easily comprehensible concept between my core languages of English and Spanish, in a way tying together what it means to be a human being despite the constant language barrier struggle between me and the world around me. I always appreciated how included I felt whenever in school but as the years rolled by, it became clear why my parents worked so hard for my brother and me; even if they felt a bit of alienation in public with some sense of community here in Texas was to provide our family a good future with things they didn’t have back in their home country. I’ve grown to understand that although the United States will only ever be my and my brother’s home, that will never be the case for my parents so the least I can do is give back to our community the only way I know how with my skills. They say money can’t buy happiness, but fundamentally, its mere existence as a unit is what allows us to reach what each of us personally desires to achieve, from simple wants materialistically to full-on dreams. Alas from the base of it all, education is what allows success to occur for anyone and everyone.

Whirlwind. Whirlwind is the word I would use to describe how it has been in the past five to seven years of my life trying to figure out what I wanted to do career-wise, especially when my performance in school depended on it. That was until I took my first ever digital art course in the 11th grade, opening the pathway to learning about the world of graphic design and what marketing can offer. Although digital art doesn’t seem entirely related to marketing at first glance, that course was where I started to learn to use the basics of digital creation in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator; in other words, programs related to the digital marketing field. Before this course, I always knew I wanted to do something I’d genuinely enjoy and not just have a job based on the financial payoff. Though inevitably as time rolled by, I found that finding a career with a decent level of financial stability is necessary in order to be somewhat stable in life. After reviewing countless careers from animation to radiology to teaching, the field of digital marketing that includes graphic design is what I found to be the best fit for me, as it is not only something I enjoy doing but it’s also something that I could safely pursue for the ever-evolving times we currently live in that are mainly technology dependent. My current knowledge in digital marketing came in handy when I contested in the UIL Theatrical Design contest this year under their marketing category for the selected play of Frankenstein from the novel by Mary Shelley, adapted by Dorothy Louise, in which I was able to successfully reach the state level where although I didn’t place among the top six in my division, it nonetheless demonstrates my capabilities and potential in this field. With the constant chatter of graphic design and digital marketing, one would think it is what I plan to permanently do but alas it is not the case as my main goal career-wise is to be a creative director, whether that be working under a business or within my own. Having the position of a creative director would allow me to put my strengths of organization, management, and most importantly creativity, to good use with any kind of project that’s thrown in my direction. Digital marketing is not just a field, but rather an essential tool that allows businesses and companies of today, whether small or large to flourish, and with this scholarship, I would be one step closer to contributing to their success and ultimately my own; starting with pursuing higher education.