Age: 23
 
After Touchstone? Middle and High School: The Rivers School, Weston, MA
College:  Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, B.S. Interior Design
Graduate School: The University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham, Surrey, UK, M.A., Design Management
 
Current endeavors (professional, hobbies, family life): After taking a recuperative break upon the completion of my Masters degree in September, I am moving to New York City at the beginning of February.  I found a great apartment in Brooklyn and will soon be getting a job in Manhattan.  I am interested in branding, retail design, and extensions of these two fields, such as development, fund raising, and design for museums.  In my free time I enjoy writing, watching movies, reading, traveling, listening to music, and attending concerts.
 
Favorite Touchstone memory: I have many great memories from my time at Touchstone: from the Children's Heritage Festival and building the playground to a trip to the Heifer Project farm with Marian's class and Mimi Night in Polly's class.
 
However, one of my favorite Touchstone memories is of the multiple trips we took to Sturbridge Village in Susan's class. We were each assigned a character from the time period. (I think mine was named Abigail.) We had to create a portrait of our character in the classroom as preparation for the trips. Then we took part in a different activity on each visit. The one activity that stands out is making our own fresh peppermint tea. It was one of my first exposures to herb tea, and I was struck by how pungent and wonderful the peppermint smelled. To this day, strong, fresh peppermint is one of my favorite scents, and it evokes the memory of being seated around a rough-hewn wooden table at Sturbridge Village.  It seems as if there was also a fire blazing in the background and snow on the ground outside; if there wasn't, then there should have been.
 
How did Touchstone prepare you for what you do today? Touchstone sparked my sense of exploration and thirst for knowledge, and it taught me that experimentation is one of the best ways to reach a conclusion.  Touchstone is also where I began to develop my art and writing skills.  Because we were always allowed to choose our own topics for reports and essays, I was able to delve into topics that truly interested me, yet I was still challenged with each new area of study.
 
My education at Touchstone helped me to think differently and look for multiple ways to approach problems and find solutions. This has been useful in every part of my life from math and design classes in school to my multi-faceted job at an independent bookstore. Touchstone always allowed me to be true to myself and embrace my talents and strengths; these basic lessons serve to enrich my life and will never leave me.