That's a wrap!

[Not pictured: Tomie Castillo.]

These guys though. ❤️

Two years ago, I decided to change up my life in unexpected ways and went back to school. Little did I know just how much would change in that time. Goals and expectations for the future, lifestyles and personal capacity, my own skills and sense of self all look so different now than when I started in 2015. To say I’ve grown a lot would be an understatement.

Tonight, after countless hours of class and work, sleepless nights, and thousands of design files, our cohort had our last official class together. You guys, I got so lucky. I can’t imagine a group of people with whom I’d rather navigate the past two years—going back to school as a working adult, exploring the field of design, sorting out our own design styles, and just making weird shit—I couldn’t have done it without these gems. They really are amazingly creative, caring, and wonderful people and I feel so blessed to have spent the past two years exploring alongside them. Thanks for being rockstars and making late-night class and even later-night work so enjoyable and challenging all at once. I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished!

Also, a huge shout out to all the other rad people in my life whose relationships I’ve maybe neglected, who made me slow down and breathe a little (even if I could never quite stop moving), who fit their schedules around my own, and who held me up when it got a little too hard to do that alone. I couldn’t have done this without all of you either.

I’m excited to see what’s next and am ready to maybe (just maybe) take a break from constant motion. But I’m also sad to see this experience end. Guys, I just love school so much! Being a part of a community, meeting such cool people (classmates, instructors, and staff alike—you know who you are!) has reminded me just how much I love creating collaboratively. I’m going miss having that built into my weekly schedule—I’m a better person because of what I created alongside each of you. I want to thank you for pushing me to be a better designer and stronger advocate for myself and my work. You’re the bees knees!

Our commencement exhibition, In Transit, will be up through the weekend and I invite you to stop by and check out our work. If you can’t make it, you can check out parts of my project here and here.

So, GDC cohort friends, here’s to us. We did the thing. That’s pretty badass.