Elizabeth Minehart '05
Hometown: Bluemont, Va.
Major: Art
Concentrations: Photography, Mathematics for the Sciences, Computing & Information Technology
"Guilford has also given me the opportunity to experience more diversity in my life, more equality, a sense of trust and the acceptance of people."
I have always wanted to do something in the arts, though it has changed to different things through-out the years and really feel as though this is the calling for me! would like to go to Graduate school, possibly in London, to earn an MFA in Graphic Design. Then one day open my own design company.
The professors at Guilford have been absolutely amazing! They have recognized my talents and help me excel at them. They have encouraged me to push what I know and what I'm comfortable with and to experiment. But I couldn't have made the revelations that I have without their pushing, without their requirements that we look at things differently. On example of this is my adviser, Maia Dery. As a photo professor she has asked me to take a new look at how I make art. She has forced her students to indirectly work together, learning form one another. As a Teaching Assistant for her this last semester I have gained quite a bit. I never thought I would love it! But I do. I love helping the other students figure out what they are creating and expressing. They infuse me with passion and Maia gave me that opportunity.
I have learned to trust myself, to have confidence in my abilities. I have learned who I am. And my friends at larger colleges have not learned these things, because no one has forced them to push themselves and explore that side of themselves. This transformation isn't just professor induced; students at Guilford ask these questions of each other daily, and that is why Guilford really does change lives.