This was my first real piece of art. I etched this owl in the spring of my freshman year of high school. I remember completing it the day of the Spring Art Show, just in time to put it on display.

I struggled academically in high school. But there were moments where I felt like my teachers and peers saw that I had talent and potential.

I was working on this piece in-between class periods, right before my history block. I remember my history teacher, whose class I had a low C in, looking at it and expressing how excited she was to see it later that evening.

I saw her later at the art show looking at my owl. I went and talked to her, and for the first time, she spoke to me like I wasn’t a hopeless student that was struggling in her class.