Taylor Bodgan, Columbia University

Art and creativity have always been important parts of Taylor Bogdan's life, beginning from an early age, as growing up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, gave her a unique opportunity to see the flourishing art culture of a small and creative city. Upon graduating Pine Crest School in south Florida, Taylor already had two AP Art courses under her belt, as well as two AP Art History courses. She continued this track after she moved to New York City to attend Barnard College of Columbia University, opting to study a mixture of Art History and Urban Studies, along with taking Visual Arts courses purely for fun.

Taylor believes she has always been an art lover, with some of her earliest and fondest memories including different crafts and creative projects. She began taking art classes in elementary school and has continued on that path ever since. Knowing she loved making art so much, Taylor opted to take AP Art History during her junior year and found she had both a deep love of the subject and a quick grasp of its key concepts. The realization of how much she enjoyed both studying art history and making her own art gave way to Taylor's hopes of studying both subjects in college.

In high school, Taylor interned at the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, which gave her an opportunity to work in an atmosphere that involved art and art history. This experience helped her passion grow and gave her an idea of one possible future for someone in these specific fields. Aside from this internship, Taylor also worked every summer of high school at her elementary school's summer program, working with groups of children ranging from age four up to twelve. Taylor had a wonderful time working with children and helping them to get everything out of a summer program that they deserved.

Since arriving in New York City almost two years ago, Taylor has taken advantage of all the museums available to her, trying to visit different ones as often as she can. At Barnard, Taylor has taken Introduction to Art History I and II, 19th Century Art, 20th Century Art, Basic Drawing, and plans to take more courses each semester. Taylor truly gets everything she can out of living in a wonderful, artistic city like Manhattan, taking advantage of opportunities both within and outside of Columbia University.

In the future, Taylor plans to continue studying art history and taking different visual art classes, as well as visiting different cultures, monuments, and museums during her planned travels to Europe in her junior year of college. Taylor is hopeful for her future in the arts, whatever it may be.