Making it to the End of the Tunnel

Graduation is the illustrious end goal, from the first day of kindergarten, students are aware that their purpose at school is to make it to the day when they walk across the stage, adorned in robes and grins. The well-wishes of family and friends and that ever-esteemed diploma occupy their dreams. 

However, this is not the end. It is merely the beginning of the long, arduous and rewarding road ahead. It is an opportunity to apply all of the hard-fought lessons into the field each individual student pursues. 

Graduation will not conclude with a freeze frame of a pumped fist in the air while Simple Minds plays in the background. Movies make it seem like the moment stays but it doesn’t, it passes and tomorrow happens. 

Bittersweet maybe, but undoubtedly hopeful and exciting. The taste of adventure and possibility is at these students lips and they shared their thoughts, plans and aspirations for their future.

Autumn Copeland

Copeland is a fine arts major who will be transferring to Ohio State University after she completes her final semester here at Sinclair Community College. 

Copeland made her way to Sinclair on the intention of saving as much money as possible. She made this financially responsible decision early in her high school career.

“I was in a program for four years throughout high school, the Young Scholars Program, where I received enough money for a semester of Sinclair tuition. It was nice to be able to come here and not have to really worry. Plus, I got other scholarships outside of that as well to help pay for tuition and art supplies and stuff,” Copeland said.

Copeland plans to obtain a bachelor’s in fine arts degree with a focus on art and technology, afterwards she hopes to find a career working in her own studio. 

Copeland prefers 2D works and recently tested her will by completing a series of 50 drawings on one subject. Having had all five of her submitted pieces chosen for a student exhibition in Building 13, Copeland elaborated on how recognition boosts confidence.

“It does a little bit, especially since not many people get all of their works in. About 300 people submitted pieces, so there’s 300 pieces submitted and only 75 got in… It definitely makes me feel appreciated. I suppose you put a lot of hours into your work, and sometimes it’s really rough, and other times it’s really great. Art is such a variety and you feel a lot of the ups and downs, but it’s very nice to be recognized,” Copeland said.

Diane Nguyen 

Nguyen also made the fiscally conservative decision to attend Sinclair. Nguyen is taking advantage of the UD-Sinclair Academy. After two years at Sinclair she will finish out her bachelor’s degree at the University of Dayton. 

Like Copeland, Nguyen is also a recipient of the Sinclair Art Department Portfolio Scholarship. 

Nguyen prefers to work mainly with oil paint but says she does enjoy working with ceramics too, though it’s not as easy as TikTok makes it look. Her love for art started taking root when she was young and has blossomed since.

“It’s funny because in my college essays, I would always write about how every time I went to Toys R Us that didn’t mean anything to me, but my parents would take me to an art store that was always my thing,” Nguyen said. 

Nguyen says having a gallery would be nice but it seems unrealistic to her. Instead teaching calls to her more than anything, despite what she calls stigmas around art teachers.

“I was inspired to be an art teacher because of my high school art teacher, but really I just want to find a nice job. I feel that nowadays being an art teacher and the arts in general are looked down upon. A lot of people want to take the arts out of schools, but I still appreciate the arts, I think a lot of students still do,” Nguyen said.

Heritage plays a heavy role in Nguyen’s work; she elaborated on how she felt a split in her identity at home with her Vietnamese family and at her predominantly White school. Since graduating high school she has visited Vietnam every other year; a tradition she plans to continue. 

Mary Zink 

Zink may not be an art major, but still utilizes her artistic ability for her communication degree. Primarily interested in marketing, Zink plans to transfer to Mount St. Joseph to continue her passion for design and pursue a double major in communication.

“Specifically I’ve really gotten into making T-shirts and flyers. I’m actually doing something for my church. I’m making what’s called Heavenly Hero Saint Trading Cards. I use Canva to make these little trading cards,” Zink said.

Zink’s faith plays a large role in her goals and aspirations. Being involved in her church allowed her the opportunity to explore her passion for talking to people and forming connections. When asked what sparked her interest in design Zink said,

“I took a digital marketing class, and I had to use Canva to make, like, different ads and what not. And I thought Canva was so cool, and so I started playing on it. And then my family just started asking me to, like, make flyers for something, or just ask me to do little projects. So really, just, kind of just by coincidence, by just playing around on this new software that I found, hey, I really like this.” 

Being from West Chester, Zink has quite the haul up north. Still, she committed to Sinclair because of her mother’s financial prudence and advice.

“During my junior year of high school, my mom enrolled me in College Credit Plus. So I started taking classes then, and after I graduated high school, I had enough credit hours built up so that I could do the Free to Finish Grant, so I could get my associates for free. And it just seemed like a very smart choice economically: save a lot of money then transferring. So it really was because Sinclair offered college credits,” Zink said.

Zink hopes to take her knowledge and get a job with the Catholic non-profit organization, Dynamic Catholic, where she wants to help them in their mission to make Catholic content that is approachable for everybody. Zink also expresses interest in becoming a teacher in a Catholic school or church. 

Ethan Rebholz 

Rebholz is another fine arts major who focuses primarily on figurative drawings or drawings that pertain to the human anatomy. 

His passion for art truly began to take form in the seventh grade when he began tracing pictures off the computer. He plans to continue his education at The University of Cincinnati. Though he is still uncertain about what he wants to do long term, he is confident his passion will reveal a path for him.

“I know I’m on the gate right now of finishing, but I still don’t know where I want to go with it, in terms of using the degree. I’ve wanted to do tattoo art possibly. But right now I’ll continue with going on to a bachelor’s in arts and then seeing where that goes,” Rebholz said.

Like every student, Rebholz keeps a very chaotic schedule. In his earnestness, he shared the struggles of balancing a busy school life and a busy social life.

“I feel like I’m very bad about balancing anything with school. It’s always last minute or, like, right before the deadline, I’m like, finally starting to kick in. That’s just kind of like how I operate. It is a little harder with artwork, though, trying to get just the motivation to sit down and actually do it absolutely, especially with, like, some of the mediums, because they’re really messy,” Rebholz said.

Though each student started their journey at Sinclair for their own unique reasons, they each finish with a shared sense of accomplishment.

They have made it to the mountaintop, and now for a brief moment, they can rest on their laurels. These Tartans have set a prime example for every Sinclair student on how to pursue and achieve their dreams. 

Noah Schlarman, Executive Editor