While on the College Road trip with 26 10th graders this week, I took this photo of a piece of sculpture at U C Santa Barbara; today we’re at Cal State University, Bakersfield & had an hour before our tour started, so we started exploring the area around where the bus dropped us off.
As luck would have it, we got dropped off at the Art Department, so I walked into one of the ceramics studios & struck up a conversation with one of the students who was working on a pottery wheel.
When I asked if he could give us an impromptu tour of the department, I was directed to an adjacent area where a tall Native American Indian was instructing a few students in the art of welded metal sculpture.
The style of one of the pieces he was working on looked familiar, which prompted me to ask if he had sold any large ones on campus. He said he had one at Bakersfield and a few others at campuses around Southern California Universities. I asked if he’d sold any to UC Santa Barbara & he said, “why, yes; several, in fact.”
I whipped out my phone camera and asked if the one I’d photographed the day before was one of them, he chuckled & said, “yup.”
His name is Laughing Horse Robinson & he gave me some great insight about an online Masters program through the Academy Of Art, San Francisco. After hearing more about my background, he said that I’d be an excellent candidate for the program, as well as someone that would be highly sought-after with my combination of computer experience & interest in further study of Art.
So, naturally, I took down his email address & will share the video & other promotional products we develop.
I also got a few minutes of video on him, along with several other tours we’ve taken this week. I’m planning on editing them together this summer & making a video of our adventures this week, as a promotional tool for next year’s recruits.
Another experience I had today at CSU Bakersfield was with our tour guide, Tyree Boyd-Pates. I filmed nearly an hour of his frenetic, extremely entertaining tour (best one of the week by far). After finding out he is a senior & graduating in five weeks, in the field of Public Relations & Communication, I suggested he send me his resume & that I could make a call to Southwest Strategies about a possible internship there this summer.
I told him I couldn’t promise him anything, other than the fact I would call & see what the possibilities were.
To say he was excited, would be the biggest understatement of the week.
So I’ve discovered another calling this week: these college road trips are right up my alley. Due to the blessed gift of gab & my ease at meeting people, the school counselor who invited me to spend the latter half of this week with all these students said this was one of the most successful trips she’s ever been on.
We’ll be back late tomorrow afternoon, after spending the night in Valencia. On the way back we’ve got two more campuses to hit: Cal Poly Pomona and UC Riverside.
The adventure continues!
