Preparing herself for her future

Warwick Valley High School sophomore Olivia Oyola says she has enjoyed creating art for just about her whole life, both at home and later at school.

“Art is kind of my hobby,” Olivia said. “I like to experiment with different things, but mainly I like painting and drawing with just pencil and paper, although I do like working with clay and mixed media sometimes. I find art fun, and I like to express my creativity.”

WVHS art teacher Rocco Manno has had Olivia in three classes: Studio Art I, Architecture I and Digital Design and Production. He said she excels in all of them and is a pleasure to have in class.

“Olivia is very creative,” Mr. Manno said. “She’s good at what she does, and she’s passionate about it and enjoys it. Olivia is also a well-rounded artist. She likes to do a lot of different things. She likes working with her hands. She likes working with pen and ink. Olivia dabbles in a little bit of everything, which is great. “

So far this year, Olivia’s favorite school project was building a model house out of wood in architecture class. She worked with three other students for about a month to complete the structure.

“That was my first time doing anything like that,” said Olivia, who hopes to take Architecture II next year. “So, I was very proud of myself.”

Olivia, on her own, also recently made a small model of her room out of cardboard and paint. Her next project at home might be a model of her sister’s room.

“I made the model just for fun, but I really like it,” Olivia said. “I like working on a smaller scale, and I like adding all the tiny details to make it unique.”

In Digital Design and Production class, Olivia is currently working on making a cardboard house based on towns in Brazil. Mr. Manno will then take all of the models and mount them on top of each other to make one giant sculpture.

Olivia has tried creating digital art, but is not really a fan. She prefers the hands-on experience of regular art, like drawing with a pen and paper. Some of her finished art ends up as gifts for her family and friends.

In addition to being a talented artist, Olivia excels academically. She earned a spot on the Magna Cum Laude honor roll for the first two marking periods.

‘I’ve been trying to keep all of my grades up,” Olivia said. “Next year, I’m planning on doing all honors and AP classes, so I’ve been trying to mentally prepare myself.”