Hello, everyone! My name is Sandra Humala, legal name Sandy (but would you kindly not). I am technically a senior at City Tech, and on the Communications Design pathway after almost three years devoted to the Computer Systems Technology BTECH major. The reason behind the last minute desire to switch invoked a lot of thinking, and thinking again, and an immense talk with myself inside, and whether or not I could continue to grieve and console myself by going down the path or not. It was a difficult decision; I’ve given up so much time for this endeavor, but it is ultimately something that I am sure that they would have really wanted me to do, as it was always a “thing” I enjoyed doing a lot while they were here.
I was one of two artistic siblings of the family of six— the other being my twin sister, Catherine. We enjoyed expressing ourselves through our little drawings of characters, and the worlds we dreamt up for them. We didn’t have much growing up, so imagination played a key role in growing a sense of wonder and creation within us, and we sure did waste a lot of computer paper with all that drawing! I particularly loved drawing characters from cartoon shows I liked to watch, eventually spanning into Anime/manga as the years went by. I had graduated from Queensborough Community College with an associates degree in Fine Art, and mainly in the illustration path. Drawings was more than a hobby we’ve done in our spare time: it was personally a way for me to deal with my inner sorrow and feelings of emptiness and stress when things didn’t go right in my home environment— there was always constant fighting that grew violent between my parents, and being creative and drawing helped me cope with it all during those tough times.
When a very close friend of mine passed away in 2014, it became my only way to be okay. It helped me with my depression. I had gone on to City Tech after Queensborough to do Computer security because it was a major my friend was so close to finishing before they passed, and I felt that if I had done it and finished it and gotten a job, it would be in their honour and would help me move on. But three years later, I felt so lost, and didn’t know whether it was truly in my heart, or it was just a coping mechanism that once I finished, it wouldn’t be something I felt happy about doing. Don’t get me wrong— I was pretty good with my classes, but it wasn’t something I personally wanted to do. I loved art, art saved me from my childhood difficulties, but it was three years I was thinking of throwing away for this major! So I had a lot to think about, and finally decided that this would be the correct way to move on, and to finally do something I truly wanted! Money wasn’t much of an issue to me but rather, the emotional stipulation placed on the wishes and dreams my close friend threw away when he made the decision to go that guilted me into needing to finish the major. But I like art, and I still drew in my spare time, and I wanted to do something with it. That’s why I decided to switch majors and start back again at square one for my own dream.

I am sure he would have supported me with it.