High school senior Jamarius Cozzart is comfortable and confident walking the halls of University Preparatory Academy every day. He’s talkative, and everyone knows his name.
So, when a friend invited him to WMCAT’s Teen Arts + Tech Program last year, Jamarius was surprised to feel shy walking into his afterschool studio. “It was just like a different community and I kind of had to start over, start reintroducing myself,” he remembers.
Quiet during his first semester in the 3D animation studio, Jamarius began to open up last spring in digital illustration. “I started to talk to my classmates more, going to see other classrooms and just being more active . . . It is a ball every day,” he says. “I’m making connections and I feel like we’re all becoming closer.” Jamarius credits teaching artist George Eberhardt with creating a studio environment that made him feel comfortable.
Community isn’t the only way WMCAT has surprised him. He’s seen his technical skills develop and his confidence grow: “I went from drawing stick figures to actually creating people that look decent, that I could show others and be proud of.” And while the work of advanced students used to make him question himself, now their skills push him to improve.
But what Jamarius loves most about his experience is having a way to bring his ideas to life. “I had ideas before that I could just never express because I didn’t have the right tools to, but now that I’m in digital illustration . . . I can actually put that on display. It’s real now.”
Where Jamarius once saw uncertainty, now he sees possibility. The perspective he’s gained at WMCAT is shaping his approach to his senior year and the future he’s imagining. “You never know what you may like or what you may not like, and it’s the best thing to try.”