My name is Jasa Jeffers, also known as Jasa #1 in this classroom, considering the very strange coincidence that there are two of us. I am a third year student at CPI in the Graphic Arts program, which has been the highlight of my high school career and the most beneficial decision I have made regarding my future. I decided to attend CPI when I was a freshman in high school and had the opportunity to tour the building and explore the different programs. I will admit, like most students that choose to come to CPI, I loved the idea of getting to leave my high school for half a day. When I learned about the Graphic Arts program, I knew that an escape from traditional classes and being trapped in the same building all day would not be the only benefit to my decision. My peers have always considered me a creative and artistic person. I am known to put my best effort into most everything I do, and making things look nice is kind of my obsession, whether it be making sure there is perfectly equal spacing between my lines of type in a research paper, or creating a design for a project we do in class. Overall, I feel that my decision to be a part of the class has helped me understand what I love to do and will help me become one of the few, lucky people that move on from school to love their jobs, like Mrs. Boyd
Last year, when I was a second year student, I was very familiar and content with the environment which I was surrounded with in our classroom. Our class consisted of 15 VERY different girls, and against all odds, we enjoyed each others company and were able to have a lot of fun together our first two years at CPI. This is exactly why the idea of bringing seven new students into our class made me very nervous. Also, it was very different because, when we moved from our first to our second year, and started coming to CPI in the afternoon rather than the morning, there were only two students that had not graduated from the previous year’s afternoon class. Therefore, there were only two students that we weren’t already completely comfortable around and had to get to know. Much like when we combined our class with the two of them, having the new second year students as part of our class was rocky at first. We divided ourselves into two separate groups of people and didn’t make much effort change that; but, somewhere along the way, we became a whole, and I came to like the second year students much more than I had expected. It’s still amazing to me how, through all the changes, with all the completely different people with completely different personalities and interests that make up this class, we remain drama-free and maintain our friendly environment. It’s very rare, and I absolutely love it.
When we were first introduced to the Adobe programs last year, we learned via packets and projects. The packets were a pretty effective way of learning the material and I’d say that I gained a really good understanding of Adobe Illustrator in that way, but the packets from which we were doing everything were falling apart and difficult to read and in black and white. That is why this year is SOOO MUCH BETTER with our new books and programs!
Although we all wanted to harm our computers and pull our hair out at first, due to the few technical difficulties we experienced, we are very lucky to have access to the brand new versions of the Adobe programs, which we can even access at home. How convenient! (: The major problem with completing our packets in the past, aside from the spontaneous decision for us to design the entire CPI yearbook, was that students were missing days of school and would have to take class time to catch up, and were then behind compared to the others. This almost completely eliminates that problem, and keeping up with our work and staying on track with the others, even if we miss a day or two, is much easier now. The only downfall of having the new programs and books this year is that I LOVE Adobe Illustrator and I’m very jealous of the second years, who get to learn the new version with all the awesome new tools and features with the new books. ;)
The most exciting part of class so far though, was the Computer Fair project, because it was the “biggest deal” when it comes to the projects we’ve done this year. I was kind of dreading doing the project at first because when you’re designing a logo for the “Pennsylvania High School Computer Fair,” you’re pretty limited on graphic elements to include in the design, and most of us went in the same exact direction with it; computer, keyboard, mouse, Pennsylvania.. exactly what you would expect in such a logo. Although I stuck with this idea, I worked really hard to make it interesting and I was proud of the design I ended up putting on the board. Also, I found out that I wasn’t the only one who was happy with my design when I received a very good critique from the other students and my design was one of the six chosen to move on! Speaking of critique, it was super intense this time and I think reality set in for anyone who hasn’t been contributing their best effort toward their work. This is exactly why critique is one of my favorite parts of class, because it gives you the opportunity to be brutally honest and know that others are going to do the same for you. The feedback might not be what you want to hear all the time, but in the end, it’s very beneficial to know what you should continue to do in a design and what you should never even think about doing again.
In five minutes it will be but a bus ride until Thanksgiving break. Even though I’m very excited to stay up all night and sleep in all day and spend a lot of time being lazy and eating amazing food, I will miss my beautiful class and my beautiful teacher, as I always do when we have breaks in school. (What will I do when I graduate in June?!) At least I will be reminded of the classroom when I’m working on modifying my computer fair logo during my little vacation! Enjoy the holiday and wish me luck! (:
Peace & Love,
Jasa #1
