Drawing a picture of their possible futures

What better way to learn about an art college than to bring in a student who actually attends one? Jodi Cooperberg, a Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway (HAFTR) 2009 graduate, a senior at Parsons School of Design in Manhattan, recently spoke to the 11th grade Art Institute class.
As a student interested in pursuing a career related to art, it was definitely inspiring to hear Cooperberg talk about her journey. She was a member of HAFTR’s Art Institute program, led by Dale Malekoff, for all four years of high school, and spent a year in Israel following her graduation.
After taking a foundation course her freshman year at Parsons, Cooperberg decided on her major: interior design. Listening to her speak, I was able to tell two things: first, that she was extremely satisfied with her decision, and second that I wanted my college life to be just as amazing as hers.
Cooperberg made the interior design program sound like a dream with its warm atmosphere and about the friendships she formed with the other students pursuing her major. There is an entire floor devoted to interior design at Parsons, and each student is given her own workspace with a desk and other necessary materials.
“It’s like having my own little family,” she said. “Parsons is a great school where I have learned more than I can imagine. It is really hard work, and I spend many late nights doing work, but to me it doesn't feel like work because I love what I do.”
All of Cooperberg’s homework assignments are challenging and stimulating, requiring her to push her creative ability to its potential and think outside of the box, she said. And by outside, I mean really outside as she mentioned to us that she used beeswax once as a material for one of her assignments!
Only five years ago Cooperberg sat on the same stools, used the same paintbrushes, and probably even worked on some of the same projects that my classmates and I are now working on in the art studio.