Hello fellow Precollege members and bloggers! My name is Joseph, but you can call me Joey for short. I am a sophomore at Connetquot High School, and I reside in Oakdale, New York; though many of you may not know where that is. Essentially, it is the awkward part of Long Island that no one knows to call “farmland” or “civilization.”

I took a shopping trip in the city during December and passed by FIT and was instantly interested in the campus. After looking up the college online and finding out about the Precollege programs, I instantly told my mom to help me sign up because I was beyond excited to explore FIT and take advantage of their programs for high school students. I am enrolled in HAD109: Adobe Illustrator for Artists and Designers.

Ever since the age of nine, I have been interested in Photoshop and the world of graphic design, and even website design. From about twelve years old to fourteen years old, I created a successful blog posting content for a children’s virtual world and it generated more than one million views. Unfortunately, there was a dispute with my hosting provider and my site was taken down. Since September 2013, over one thousand dollars of ad revenue was accumulated which was pretty stinkin’ cool considering I wasn’t even taught anything that I accomplished myself. Along the fantastic journey, I learned how to set up a web page using HTML and CSS, and learned how to design and capture the eye of viewers using vibrant colors and design techniques.

At my school, I am currently taking a Computer Graphics class where I am learning new things about Photoshop every day. Recently we ventured into Adobe Illustrator, and I am hoping to learn even more about Illustrator and digital drawing during my FIT Precollege class on Saturdays.

Other than designing and shopping, I enjoy writing once my brain decides to cooperate with me: it’s a struggle sometimes. While I tend to focus on several types of poetry such as casual, lyrical, and free verse; at school, I enjoy writing argumentative pieces. Sometimes I spend hours writing a short story that inevitably has no end; as a result, it is left to rot in an abandoned folder somewhere in my computer.

As for my future as an artistic-based teen? I plan to continue taking FIT’s Precollege Programs while I am in high school, and study a variety of digital art forms and the history of European art. I am not sure what I want to pursue in life as of this moment, but I am hoping to find my path very soon with the guidance of my peers and elders. Attending FIT is a dream, but as Walt Disney once said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”

-Joey