Last week I had the pleasure of being photographer for the Youth YMCA summer camp at ISU. I also helped with preparing materials, setting up rooms and helping with some of the workshops. (primarily the mask making workshop) *

This was so much fun.  All the children were so well behaved and I heard from the kids multiple times how much fun they had.  The summer camp was two days in the college of design and lasted roughly 2 1/2 hours.  During that time the children participated in three workshop activities.  1) Mask making 2) Origami  3) Hat design.  For being such little kids the projects held their attention very well.  Even the YMCA staff seemed to enjoy participating on a few of the works shops.  

There is just something so wonderful about seeing kids open up to talking to you through art.  Many of the children were so shy when they first stepped off the bus, but as soon as we started working on projects they seemed to become so much more relaxed and excited about talking to people. 

People that were involved in the work shop were, Calee Himes, Meriesa Elliott, Julian Osorio, Bo Chen, Wonsil Jang, Yin-Sin Chang, and myself. 

* all the photos taken above where taken by Samantha Barbour

Last semester I had the pleasure of being a part of a group that created a workshop for when the University of East London came to visit ISU.  I also helped with transportation and went to lunches with the group.  Before they came we had a video conference meeting with them to discuss what they would like to learn when they came to visit and what we were interested in learning as well.  The photos above are from the camera of Bernard Canniffe and show my involvement in that video conference meeting.  

I loved that Bernard pushed me to talk and explain things during the meeting.  It gave me a whole new level of confidence.  It can be intimidating to talk with a large group of people you have never met before, and then to be worried about the cultural differences can be a little scary, but with his push of confidence, it felt amazing to speak with everyone.  I am proud of how I was able to represent ISU and our Graphic Design program during this meeting. 

Little did I know at the time of this meeting that I would soon meet some great individuals who I would come to feel as if I known them forever.  The group that visited from UEL were amazing and I know it was only a short visit, but I do find myself missing them greatly.  Hope to have a chance to visit them soon....or wouldn't it be amazing to work in London? I personally think that would be amazing and out of this world exciting.