Senior Spotlight: Grace Najpaver

January 27, 2022

Congratulations to senior Grace Najpaver on earning the prestigious Gund Scholarship—worth $20,000 per year—from the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Grace has also been accepted to Ohio University's College of Liberal Arts as well as Mount Union, where she received a scholarship offer, and Mercyhurst College, where she was invited to apply to the honors program.

She has yet to decide among these exciting opportunities. Grace said that her college decision-making process has "mostly been a matter of distance away from home, how much financial aid I would be receiving from each college along with scholarship opportunities, and how much it would benefit the major I'm going into." Because she plans to study art, she has spent a great deal of time exploring potential colleges’ fine arts departments. She has also worked to develop connections with college counselors and professors to find her "perfect fit."

While she'll select a college within the next few months, Grace already has firm long-term aspirations. She says, "Post-college, I plan on doing several internships for gaming companies and studios in the hopes that I can gather enough experience to profit off of my own work or apply to a company as a concept artist. Right now, I plan on interning at Riot Games, Nintendo, DreamWorks, and Pixar to start, while creating work, such as merchandise, to sell online."

Asked to describe her artistic inspiration, Grace notes, "I feel like it's a common assumption that all artists always have inspiration in their heads—but for some reason, inspiration never comes easily to me. To combat this, I usually go out into the world. Whether it be interviewing people about their culture or going out to different art exhibitions, I love dipping my toes into different experiences as a way to spark inspiration for a new project or designs. Using new media that I've never touched before—clay, duct tape, watercolor, pastels—also opens a doorway to creative ideas and new methods to create art; instead of always doing digital sketches, maybe one day I could do a clay sculpture or a painting made entirely out of ink bubbles."

Grace credits her American Movies and Music course and all of the art classes she has taken with most significantly impacting her life. She’s grateful to Mr. Clark, who “puts phenomenal detail” into the coursework to ensure that Movies and Music students gain deep insight into real-world events from the 1900s.

She also recommends any art courses with Mrs. Brannigan and Mrs. Ryan “because they challenge you to go beyond the basics of ‘just art.’ For digital artists like myself, I recommend Digital Media 1 with Mrs. Brannigan, and for physical media, Drawing and Painting and Portfolio with Mrs. Ryan are good ways to jumpstart your artistic career.”

Reflecting on her own journey, Grace shares valuable advice with the underclassmen: “Never allow yourself to be held back by doubt or fear. Never, ever, ever hesitate to ask a teacher for help if you need it. Never, ever, ever feel afraid to open up to a guidance counselor if you feel lost. No one will ever judge you for seeking help.”

Congratulations to Grace and all of our seniors! Stay tuned for more senior profiles in the coming days!