The Graphic Design Pathway at Valley High school has taught me a multitude of skills, from both a technical and personal standpoint. Before I joined the pathway, I wasn’t sure on what I wanted to be in the future. I loved creating art and wanted to incorporate it into my future, but I felt my drawing skills weren’t on par with other great artists. If I had chosen to pursue illustration or animation, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep up. When I entered the pathway, it was a relief to hear that I don’t necessarily need to have great drawing skills to pursue a career relating to art. Because of the pathway, I was able to become confident in what I wanted to pursue in the future; I wanted to be a graphic designer to create art on digital or print media. As for the technical side, I was able to learn how to put my creative ideas out through the use and combination of multiple softwares. With the knowledge I gained of these softwares, like Procreate or Adobe Illustrator, I was able to learn how to fully flesh out the ideas I had for Graphic Design projects without it staying as a concept. The pathway also provided me with experience designing products, composing art in Illustrator without fully relying on drawing skill, editing pictures, etc.. Being in the Graphic Design Pathway has challenged me to grow in terms of planning for deadlines, using my creativity for visually appealing designs, and problem-solving to fit within the constraints of my projects. I needed to create art and designs within a time constraint, so I had to work in high effort throughout multiple days in order to meet deadlines for projects. Constraints in the projects taught me how to use my creative skills to make designs that were visually appealing while working well with the product or item they would go on. For instance, I had to think about how I would design a Nike shoe that not only looks good on a shoe, but conveys the upbeat theme of the video game I based the design on. My problem-solving skills grew from both the creative constraints I needed to go through, and how I was going to create my ideas into reality. Graphic Design projects challenged me to question my process: a few questions being which program would be best for the design I sketched, which tools within that software are needed to make the design, what colors would work well together, do I need mockups for this project, etc.. In order to make my art ideas into reality, I needed to grow these skills, and the Graphic Design pathway greatly helped with that growth. Knowing how to apply work ethic, creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking into college or my future career will help me effectively work on assignments or projects. As mentioned earlier, these skills help me plan and work around constraints or problems that may arise in order to get a satisfactory end product. It’s essential to grow these skills as deadlines, constraints, and problems increase in difficulty and become more stricter in college or career environments. Especially for my planned career, a graphic designer, learning how to apply these skills in terms of graphic design are needed if I wish to work with actual clients who want designs from me. The Graphic Design Pathway has already started prepping me for this future, teaching me how to utilize these skills and my technical knowledge to create visually appealing designs for print or digital media.