Why Tufts?

Moving on from undergrad is weird. One day, you’re balancing studio projects, late-night club meetings, and sitting in lecture halls, and the next, you’re walking across the stage wondering: Okay…What's next? What do I do with everything I’ve learned? And where do I even start?

Tufts didn’t let me stew in uncertainty for long. Every moment — even the ones I barely noticed at the time, like a casual conversation in a club — shaped how I make decisions about my future.

Tufts taught me how to learn in all kinds of spaces, how to engage in real conversations, and—maybe most importantly (actually, definitely importantly, since the day I matriculated and the dean called it our north star)—what it means to be an active participant: in friendships, in classrooms, and in the community.

I’ll never forget my first art class at SMFA. My high school had barely scraped the surface when it came to art, so walking through those studio doors felt like stepping into a whole new world. Progressive Proof: Color, a printmaking course, made me look at color in a way I never had before. For the first time, I actually knew how to use a studio. To this day I still remember the air, thick with oil, rubber, and ink. The shiny rollers stretched across long tables as students rolled slabs of fuchsia, blacks, blues, and whites. Watching everyone work, I thought: This is what it means to be an SMFA Tufts student—driven, focused, and dedicated to pushing art forward as a community.

That first class was just the beginning. Now, as an MAT student in Art Education, I’m back in those same studios, still making and still learning. But this time, I’m teaching. I’m not only able to share what I know with students who are new to art, but also learn from their cultures and identities through the artmaking we do together. Teaching in the art room continues to remold my understanding of what I create and why, but also what others create and why.

One of the most meaningful parts of grad school so far has been my MFA assistantship on weekends, helping kids engage with art at the galleries. It’s a thrilling experience because of how completely different gallery-based teaching is from the usual classroom set up. Much like that first printmaking class I took, this MFA work has pushed me out of my comfort zone and reminded me to stay open to learning in unexpected ways. At the MFA, I get to take everything I learned in the studio like giving and receiving critiques, the basics of observational drawing and sculpture, and putting it into a space where kids can explore, experiment, and ask questions without the fear of judgement.

I chose Tufts for both undergrad and grad school because Tufts teaches you how to be part of something bigger than yourself. When you’re in those classrooms, you learn how to create fearlessly, contribute without waiting to be asked, and ask questions that matter. Someday, I hope to build a classroom that feels like Tufts: a place where learning is meaningful, where students can speak through their art, and where art can actually do something in the world. After all, if art doesn’t make us feel something, what’s the point?