The end of another year...

So as we reach the end of another school year, I can say that I'm fairly happy with the progress that my students made this year. It was an improvement over last year and with the crop of students coming up, I think that next year may be even better.

I'm sorry to see my best student leave... I've had Jessica as a student for six years now, since she was in seventh grade and I was still teaching art. She's going on to Rutgers now and has a solid interest in design, although I don't know if she'll be able to turn it into a career. She's an excellent writer, so who knows? Maybe there's a design critic in there somewhere.

After school lets out, Dawn and I will head to San Francisco for a few days without the kids, then I'm back for a week and start grad school - my MFA in Design from Marywood University. I've accumulated $5000 in scholarships and $2200 in tuition reimbursement, so besides my own goals, I have a lot of financial backers I will have to keep satisfied.

I'm not exactly sure what my primary goal is - I have many goals for this MFA and I'm hoping the program will help coalesce them into one primary goal I can focus on. I know that whatever I do will only help my students, but I also want some personal gain as well. I've spent my entire career using my skills in the service of others - for pay and pro bono - now, I'd like my skills to come to my service a bit. I'm grateful for the many opportunities that I've had in my career but a little financial gain would be nice too.

It's my goal to start posting on a regular basis now, to form my own thoughts and see if they become part of the focusing process.