UCSD Art Student Wins Dream Scholarship

October 16, 2007

By Christine Clark

Autum Hays

Earl Warren College junior Autumn Hays recently won the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke scholarship to help her pursue her life’s passion to become an artist. The $60,000 award will help her cover tuition and living expenses for the next two years.  

The honor student has come a long way from her elementary school years, when she was diagnosed with dyslexia, and her teenage years, when she found out she is bipolar.

Hays, who is a Studio Arts major, attended University High School and comes to UCSD from Mesa College, where she excelled academically.

Hays was born and raised in San Diego County. She was told she had dyslexia in elementary school and was placed into special education classes.

“Because of being in special-ed, I assumed I was stupid or that something was wrong with me,” Hays said.

But when put through testing, she scored higher than any student her special education teacher had seen.

“Eventually I realized I wasn't stupid because I was dyslexic, in fact I was gifted enough to be able to learn to cope with it.”

By the time she entered middle school, a teacher anonymously recommended Hays to be tested for honors.

"I passed the gifted test with a very high score,” Hays said. “I was shocked and overjoyed. I knew my dyslexia made things hard for me and I never believed I could be a gifted student."

But Hays’ struggles didn’t end there. As a teen she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was put on various medications, which made it even more difficult for her to succeed in high school. She stopped taking the medications and enrolled in an alternative high school where she finished with honors.

For all these years, Hays always had a deep interest in the arts and was able to channel her emotional turmoil into creative work. She played the saxophone from elementary school to high school and learned to play guitar and sing. She played in several rock bands and her interest in music has had a strong influence on her art.

Hays has developed into a mix-media artist – she creates works in which she exposes herself physically and emotionally, directly confronting her own discomfort. She uses combinations of sound, photography, smell, performance, installations, film, painting, drawing and sculpture.

“As long as I can remember, I have wanted to become an artist,” she said.  “My mother always encouraged me to make art. However, I didn't believe in my abilities until recently.”

Hays was very active in the arts program at Mesa College.  She re-established and ran the Mesa College Studio Arts Club in fall 2006. The Mesa College faculty requested she be the only serving student member in the Mesa College Public Arts Committee.

She said she is thrilled to be a student in the UCSD Visual Arts department.

“Most schools are designed for you to focus on one form of artwork,” she said. “UCSD allows me to work on a higher conceptual level and dabble in every medium I see fit.”

She had to use public transportation to get to Mesa College, which took her an hour to get to and from school.

“Riding the bus to school took a lot of time out of my day,” she said.  “A 15 minute drive would be an hour walk and bus. What was most difficult about this was carrying all my art supplies on the bus.”

Hays had won serveral scholarships at Mesa College, but she didn’t think she had a chance of winning the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship.

“I knew I had a jam-packed resume and writing skills, but I figured my choice of major and GPA (3.8 not 4.0) would put me out of the running, but I felt I had to apply,” she said. “When I found out I won, I almost fainted and started to cry in shock, I had never heard of such a large undergrad scholarship before.”

Although she doesn’t have a lot of free time, Hays is dedicated to bringing art to her community.

She volunteers her time to galleries, public art events and continues to do many forms of community service, including feeding the homeless.

On many occasions, she has served as a curator. She has worked on installing and creating exhibits.

Hays plans on attending graduate school to obtain an MFA. “I want to be a fine artist and exhibit my work, but I also plan on doing some teaching and curate art.”

 

Media Contact: Christine Clark, 858-534-7618