I have never been very fond of or talented at art. While I can appreciate its beauty from afar, the creativity, “open-endedness,” and subjectivity of art is daunting to me. Rather, I have always been drawn to subjects such as science and math where one solves problems to reach a single correct solution. I never fathomed that a high school course requirement would open my eyes to the creative arts.

As a freshman, I opted to enroll in Design and Draw for Production (DDP) because I heard it was the “easiest” of the required art classes. In DDP, I was given a taste of creativity on AutoCAD (a computer-aided design program), which awakened the right side of my brain. I was able to create defined structures and houses with meticulous detail even with my previous inability to create art in any form. The following year, I decided to develop these skills further by enrolling in Architecture 1 & 2, and I soon became an AutoCAD expert. I enjoyed this subject (and the inspirational instruction of Mr. Rocchio) so much that I chose to continue on the architecture path in my junior and senior years. Throughout my high school tenure, I have designed several houses on AutoCAD and created countless hand drawings. All of these designs included my personal creative twist, one that I did not previously know I had or how to display it.

Although I do not plan to continue my architecture studies after high school, I am grateful that I took DDP freshman year and continued along this track. Architecture served as my artistic outlet during high school and a wonderful change of pace from my other curriculars. I would absolutely recommend John Jay’s architecture program to others who do not consider themselves artistic but seek an artistic channel in their lives.