By Kayla Perkins–Art students are on their way to create something new. Some are headed to class for other majors and minors they may be taking to ensure they can continue a life of creation. One such person is Donna Habinck.
Habinck is a senior who uses anything and everything as a template for her art, herself included. Some days she will emerge from her dorm room with a green face, dressed as the Wicked Witch. Other days her hair will be a new color, and she will be dressed in a homemade costume. Always an optimist, Habinck encourages others to confidently express their artistic side.
“Donna never ceases to surprise me when it comes to her creativity. She never looks the same twice, and it’s always amusing to see what she looks like everyday,” said Ruthie Weinmann.
Habinck has always been artistic, beginning in her youth doing arts and crafts with her mother and preschool class.
“My mom would make things and give me the scraps and leftovers to show me how to do them. I learned a lot by doing things hands on. I gained a personal touch after a while.”
Early on Habinck decided she wanted to share things she could create with other people. She also wanted to teach others how to make art, and decided she wanted to learn how to teach.
“My classmates would come to me for help on crafts a lot, and I liked helping them make things they could show their parents. I decided that my dream was to become an art teacher, so I could help kids be creative while still being able to make things I enjoyed, too,” Habinck said.
Habinck started her teaching dream at Morningside College, focusing on English and Art. However, Habinck soon learned that she enjoyed teaching too much.
“I couldn’t decide what I wanted to teach. Both were equally appealing so I tried to go after both. I figured I could just stay another year to finish them both, but unfortunately I’m not able to do that financially. Even though I didn’t want to I had to drop my teaching majors, and instead I’m focusing on regular English and Art degrees,” Habinck said.
However, even after giving up that dream, Habinck finally found what she truly wanted to do.
“Over the summer I worked at the Le Mars Art Center, and during that time I found that I wanted to take that experience and bring art more into the smaller towns I’ve lived in,” Habinck said. “One day it was like a flip switched, and I decided that yeah, I think this is what I want to do.”
Habinck found that she enjoyed helping others become artists, and has dedicated herself to improving her community artistically, in its people and in its architecture.
“There’s always going to be someone to teach art, but you don’t hear a lot about people who use their artistic skills to improve their community. I want to be that person,” Habinck declared.
Ruthie Weinmann is another student who changed her goals during college. Starting out with a Biology degree in mind, Weinmann quickly found it was not all it was cracked up to be.
“Biology was something I really liked in high school, and I figured it would be similar in college, but I found it was much more difficult than I expected,” Weinmann said. Her goal now is to focus on an English degree in order to become a librarian.
Habinck’s dream is now to use her skills and creations to make her hometown community a more beautiful and welcoming place. She also wants to hold art events and sales to bring her community together to appreciate art for what it is: an expression of the self.
“What I want most is for people to see art and say ‘hey, that’s pretty cool. I’d like to try that.’ I want art to be something people are proud to share, and if my plans come true, then hopefully that’s what I will accomplish. That is my new dream.”
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