The possibilities of ending up where you desire to be are endless, just like Mr. Young who was taking a different major in college before he realized his heart followed a different path. Family and friends believed Mr. Young was very talented in art, and had encouraged him to choose a career that involved art, although they suggested careers, where his income would be higher than most regular artists. "They said the only way to make money as an artist, was to be a commercial artist, so I started majoring in graphic design and quickly realized in my freshmen year that I didn't want people telling me what to do with art," the teacher said. 

Mr. Young explained how these types of artists were restricted with their options. "Graphic artists have clients like, Coca-Cola or Nike that says I need an advertisement design, here's how we want it, so it was really limited."

This influenced Mr. Young to look for a different goal, one that actually allowed him to perceive what he truly wanted to become. It was in Colorado where a couple of photographs caught his attention and really fascinated him, leaving him to take another direction with the career he wanted to major in. Mr. Young began to take classes for photography around his sophomore year in college, and it helped shape him into who he is today.

As a visual arts teacher, Mr. Young has a variety of different classes he teaches and is currently helping one prepare for a big upcoming project. This project is specified for AP students where they create a portfolio that have two sections that includes 24 pieces, 12 are about breadth and the other 12 are about concentration, along with a short artist statement at the end. The concentration photos revolve around a certain theme, and an example Mr. Young gave was how a student he had last year, chose growth as her theme. He stated that, "She explored all the different ways she could represent the idea of growth in photography." The other 12 shots, the breadth section, are not meant to relate to theme in any way. He also said "They have to show you that you have mastered the ability to make a good photograph." The students would shoot one section during the fall and the other during the spring, and would gather all those pieces at the end to build their portfolio.

When I asked Mr.Young what his main goal towards his AP students was, he responded: "To make sure everyone gets a 4 or preferably a 5 to earn that college credit, and so you've learned and gotten the most out of the class that you can."

When he talked about his regular students, he mentioned how he wanted them to transfer to AP, to push them out of their comfort zones. In any classes you take, you are always going to have strength and weaknesses, it helps you follow your aspirations even though there are bumps along the way and allows you to strive to do better. Quoting Mr. Young, "As long as your motivated, you'll tend to learn quickly."

Everyone has potential, it's just a matter of keeping that potential to keep progressing until it becomes a habit. After listening to Mr. Young's story of how he evolved, and his position as a photography teacher, I want to challenge everyone to continue to explore so you can get to the path that suits you best and use it to help others create paths for themselves.