I never attended prom in high school, nor did I attend the grad night celebration. I was told by countless people that I’d regret my decision, and that I was going to miss high school once I got out. Now that I’m finished with both high school and college, I still don’t regret any of it, and I don’t miss high school at all!
However, my heart feels extremely heavy when I think about RMCAD. Although I spent a good amount of college online due to the covid-19 pandemic, I still greatly enjoyed my college experience. There are many fond memories that come to mind when I look back at my three years in college.
Acceptance into RMCAD (2019)
This experience can be described as nerve wracking, but also extremely exciting and fulfilling. When I sent in my application, letterhead, and portfolio to RMCAD, I was extremely anxious to hear back. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how it would feel if I was accepted or denied by the college. One day got a text from my advisor one day. As I was about to read it, I got a call. I spoke to my advisor for a bit as she filled me in about my application being received by the school. She then tells me that I was should have been notified much earlier: “You have been accepted into RMCAD.”
I started to cry, shake even. This was some of the best news I had ever heard in my life! Ever since I learned about RMCAD back in high school, my heart became set on attending, regardless of how far I had to travel. The lifestyle change didn’t matter to me as long as I got in. And I did!
Quarantine Shenanigans (2020)
The 2020 quarantine was a really strange and scary time. There’s a ton of different ways to describe it, but that’s not something I want to discuss in too much detail.
Moving off of campus heavily impacted everyone at my college in different ways, and it was a very painful transition. Yes, it sucked. But on some strangely brighter side of things, it gave me a lot more time to cook from home! If you looked over at my camera during a zoom class period, chances are I was cooking. I was still paying plenty of attention to what was going on in class, of course. Some of my classmates became quite amused by my cooking, and it became a recognizable trait of mine. One of my favorite moments involved me baking and frosting a whole cake during a class. One of my greatest friends caught me at the most perfect moment.
Jackson’s Memorial Painting (April 2021)
This memory is bittersweet. Because of the pandemic, most of my life drawing and life painting classes took place over zoom rather than on campus. Due to campus being closed throughout 2020 and 2021, many students including myself moved back home while we all waited to return to school fully.
Jackson’s memorial painting was one of the largest assignments I took on during my time in college. Standing at 3ft x 4ft, it’s the largest canvas I had ever worked with. It also marks the longest that I’ve ever worked on a piece. Long days and nights felt like hell sometimes, but I feel as though it was worth every second of the experience and challenge. Jackson passed away around the time that I finished this painting for him.
Student Ambassador Retreat/Initiation (August 2021)
In August of 2021, the covid-19 scare was beginning to calm down and campus had finally re-opened to students. Although most saw a pleasant return to RMCAD, many chose to stay online and remain in their hometowns. This heavily affected campus life as well as its population. Regardless, RMCAD kept its excitement and spirit alive and well.
This was executed through different clubs and organizations on campus, including the Student Ambassador program. Student Ambassadors would help out new students around campus, host fun events, and run orientations throughout the new terms. I applied to become an ambassador during the 2021 fall season, and served as one until I graduated earlier this year. (August 2022)
Hosting and attending events around RMCAD was nothing less than great. However, nothing could compare to the retreat we attended before the start of the new school term. In order to get to know each other as well as train to become ambassadors, my fellow colleagues and I went on a camping trip to Mount Evans. We cooked together, played games, went on hikes, and took a group photo at the top of the mountain during one sunrise.
The view from the top of Mount Evans can only be described as breathtaking. It’s one thing to read about it and see photos, but it’s a whole other ball park when you’re physically witnessing it.
Landscape Painting Class (September-October 2021)
Landscape painting was a challenging class, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. Painting isn’t exactly my strongest medium, especially when it comes to scenery and landscape settings.
The thing I enjoyed most about landscape painting class was the traveling. The idea of driving around Denver and painting outside sounded super exciting and engaging! It wasn’t easy dragging around a heavy canvas and bag of supplies, but the struggle was all a part of the process, which made it more memorable for me.
One of my best memories for me was getting settled with my equipment and sending photos to my parents. Every time I was ready to paint, I would send my parents a photo of my easel with my painting location in the background. I would also be holding a thumbs up to show that I had successfully set up shop!
Another one of my favorite memories in landscape painting class actually stemmed from a joke at the start of the term. As seen in the photos above, I would always wear my large blue coverall in order to avoid staining my clothes with oil paint. Oil paint is a very tricky and messy medium to work with! Upon my classmates seeing me wear it, everyone began to agree that the coverall made me look like Michael Myers. My professor even asked me while I was painting “You’re not trying to kill me are you?”
The Michael Myers joke became an ongoing gag that my class was in on. With this in mind, I got an idea. Since the end of the term was close to Halloween of 2021, “Halloween Kills” was talk of the town around campus. I decided to play into my classes’ joke and play a prank of them at the end of the term. I got myself a Michael Myers mask and carried a large paint brush with me to class one morning in October.
The lights were still off and I was almost an hour early to class. I sat in the room waiting for others to arrive, only for them to freak out when they saw me. The reactions I received absolutely cracked me up, and everyone else laughed it off with me. My professor loved the prank too.
Celebrating the Body Exhibition (March 2022)
During March of 2021, RMCAD hosted a gallery exhibition titled “Celebrating the Body.” Overall, the entire show was beautiful. Seeing so many artist representations of the human body was extremely fascinating. “Celebrating the Body” was an exhibition that displayed portrayals of the body in different forms, emotions, and mediums.
I was extremely thrilled to find out that my submission was accepted into the show! From a young age, I always dreamed of having my art displayed in a gallery for many to see. There were times where I would doubt myself and think “That won’t happen, I’m not as talented as other people.” I tried to prove myself wrong by submitting to the gallery; feeling great success with the end result!
River Rafting with the Girls! (July 2022)
For about a week during one of my summer terms in 2021, my mom flew out to visit me in Colorado. Due to me previously painting in Golden, I found out that there was river rafting available during the time that she would be visiting.
My mom really wanted to go river rafting, and I was really excited to try it out too! So, my mom, my advisor, and me all went river rafting in Golden together. The water was freezing cold, but the thrill of riding on the rafts and floating through the rapids was super fun! I’m immensely happy that my advisor joined us for such a fun time.
The Sticker Wall
All of the buildings at RMCAD have different names. The Shore building has a classroom containing a wall filled with various stickers and business cards made by RMCAD students from various majors and years. When I started attending numerous classes in Shore 101, I made it a long term goal to get one of my stickers on that wall before I left RMCAD. During my final term at school, I finally did it!
Looking back at the photo makes me miss RMCAD more and more as I think about it. On the bright side, the sticker wall has something to remember me by, as well as everyone else who made their mark up there too!
Campus Cats
Upon leaving RMCAD, one of the hardest things I had to do was say goodbye to the beloved campus cats. A litter of cats was born on the campus far before I attended, and two of those lovely cats are still there today! The staff and faculty routinely feed them and give them treats.
Princess is the younger sister who is a small tortoise cat. She’s extremely friendly, not to mention absolutely adorable! Princess loves to receive attention from everyone on campus and can be very sassy and chatty.
Spooky, however, is a total opposite of Princess. Spooky is the larger black cat, who’s also Princess’ older brother. He’s not big on crowds of people and will usually shy away from a lot of students. During my time at RMCAD, I was desperate to become friendly with Spooky. Many attempts of slowly approaching at his level and speaking softly resulted in him walking away.
During the end of 2021, however, I made a core memory with Spooky. I once again tried to gain Spooky’s trust. To my surprise, he didn’t walk away. This time, Spooky came towards me, soon rubbing himself on me and purring. Before I knew it, I was able to pet Spooky. I started crying when I heard him purring. Since then, Spooky wouldn’t walk away from me. Instead, he’d meow at me when I said his name, and I was able to pet him.
Graduation Exhibition + Connecting with Classmates
My final core memories not only include the excitement and thrill of the Graduation Exhibit, but also all of the great connections I made with many different artists of RMCAD. Every class felt like a brand new experience, and every interaction taught me valuable things about art and life itself. I don’t miss high school and I definitely don’t regret missing out on prom and grad night. If anything, it’s the college memories that I would genuinely enjoy going through again.
