The Journalism Club at LCCTC is working on a series called, “A Day in the Life of . . . “ From a first-year and a senior’s points of view, they plan to feature each shop to give an incoming student a bit of a peek into what it might be like if they choose to come to LCCTC because, if anyone knows how overwhelming it might feel, it is our students who have already made that move.

We hope you enjoy each article, and for our prospective students, we hope you make the time to speak with your parents, make a visit to our school during the Prospective Open House, and contact our guidance office (MDLynch@lcvt.tec.pa.us or call 724-658-3583 ext. 7105) to arrange for a more thorough visit.

For now, we hope you enjoy, “A Day in the Life . . .”

Desiree D’Ambrosi,

As the clock strikes 8:04, LCCTC students start heading down the long hallway to their shop, and for some, their walk ends at the highly decorated doors of Mr. DeRosa’s Commercial Arts classroom where a very happy Mr. DeRosa waits for his Commercial Arts class with the brightest smile and a warm welcome.

Every day in Commercial Arts, first-year students partake in creating wonderful pieces of art that range from hand-drawn art to art created with a single camera lens. In the very short time I have been at LCCTC, I have seen these students create sublime pieces of art in just one day, and, with the help of Mr. DeRosa, keep on building their artistic abilities and creativity.

I wanted to get a better understanding of how these students create these works of art and what exactly a day in their shop looks like. I asked a sophomore, Aleynuh Rhodes, and a senior, Leanna Miller, what exactly a day in the life of a Commercial Arts student looks like, how they create these works of art, and why they wanted to get into the Commercial Arts in the first place.

Aleynuh has always had a passion for the arts and has been creating it for her entire life. During her 9th grade year, Aleynuh took the tour for LCCTC and decided to enter into Commercial Arts for her 10th grade year because of her passion for creating art, and Aleynuh’s desire to have art be her career later on in her life. So far, Aleynuh has loved it. In her own words, her favorite aspect of Commercial Arts is, “. . . the atmosphere, and also I get to spend the day creating art that I am passionate about.”

I then asked Aleynuh other questions such as what an average day in Commercial Arts looked like: “What I do on an average day is I work on my Adobe and Photoshop projects, and if I have hand-drawn projects I’ll also work on them.”

The last question I asked Aleyuh was if she had been enjoying Commercial Arts so far, “I have been enjoying it so far, and I’ve made many great friends. My teacher, Mr. DeRosa, is very attentive and wonderful. I feel this is where I’m supposed to be.”

The next interview I conducted was with a senior, Leanna Miller. Leanna has been a very talented and successful student at LCCTC ever since her first year when one of her creations was accepted into the Lawrence County High School Art Exhibition hosted by the Hoyt. She has done and is still doing many wonderful projects for Commercial Arts. Her most recent project, and her favorite, is the mural for the Zen Den in the Guidance Office. Leanna has enjoyed her time here at LCCTC very much because of the amazing teachings of Mr. DeRosa and because of how prepared it has made her for the future.

Leanna cherishes her time in Commercial Arts for various reasons. “My time in Commercial Arts and the lessons and skills that I have learned are truly preparing me for good things when I graduate and for my career in the future.”

On a daily basis, Leanna serves as a shop assistant and helps guide the first-year students with their projects – that is, of course, when she isn’t working on her own advanced projects.

Leanna hopes to inspire future LCCTC students to pursue Commercial Art. “My advice to them would be to be driven by your discipline and not by your motivation.”

In the words of Henri Matisse, “Creativity takes courage.” Commercial Arts is not the right program for everyone because each student is taking a chance to have their art critiqued and students are going to have their artistic abilities challenged during their time in this program, but if someone does have an interest in turning their creativity and artistic abilities into a career, then I advise them to have some courage and dare to try.

Aleynuh works on digital art while Leanna proudly displays her glass art and photography.