Toledo Excel students from Group XXXV had a special art immersion project last month as part of their Careers and Leadership Institute.
The project was led by Lydia Myrick, a UToledo May graduate in visual arts and Toledo Excel alumna, who was asked to and share her talent with the group of rising high school sophomores.
Peyton Sawyer, a sophomore at Toledo School for the Arts, paints flowers on a t-shirt at the Toledo Excel Art Project on Main Campus.
Coming back to Toledo Excel and working with young scholars headed to The University of Toledo was special for Myrick.
“It was a surreal experience; everything has come full circle as I can remember my first day in Excel sitting in the classrooms,” she said. “Now to think I’m on the other side of the desk and delivering instruction. I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
Toledo Excel is a scholarship incentive program that has created a pipeline of academically gifted high school students from around the city of Toledo into The University of Toledo for nearly 40 years. The Careers and Leadership Institute is designed to expose the students to multiple career opportunities from business, to STEM, to the arts and more. The art project was the idea of Associate Director Belinda Wheeler and the three large canvases the students created will hang in the Toledo Excel offices of Director David Young, which also serves as a conference room for the program.
“I was excited to see what these brilliant students would come up with, and I love the finished product,” Young said. “One of our purposes with the program is to create strong scholars and we believe that means a student that is well rounded. This art project with an incredible alumna like Lydia is a perfect way to do that.”
