Scholars in the News
Reshma Tharani, 21, is part of a new breed of community college student
YuJune Park
"I hope to one day open a design studio that can set an ethical standard for the creation of objects. Knowledge of traditional resources and local needs, labor laws, and environment-friendly manufacturing processes is as critical to design as creativity and beauty."
- Alumni of: 2007 Graduate Scholarship Program
- Resides: New York, NY
- Hometown: Amory, MS
- Age: 29
- Four-year College or University: Rhode Island School of Design
- Graduate School: Yale University
- Academic/Career Pursuits: Architecture, Arts / Music / Performance, Design, Education / Academia, Film, Nonprofits, Urban Design / City Planner, Interdisciplinary Design
- Other Interests: Foreign Languages / International Study, Leadership Development, Outdoor / Mountaineering / Camping, Tutoring / Mentoring, Visual Arts, Volunteer Work, Arts Education, Social Activism
Biography
As a girl, YuJune Park carried a small drawing pad everywhere she went. In high school, she volunteered as an arts teacher at Greensboro's Natural Science Center and as a tutor in art and English for immigrants in public schools. Entering a design college seemed natural. At Rhode Island School of Design, she discovered furniture design and came to appreciate the overlap of design and art. Because she and two of her siblings attended university simultaneously, she supported her education with work at an art gallery and as a design assistant to the Trinity Repertory Company theatre. YuJune helped organize tutoring for Liberian refugees and participated in community arts classes for youth in Providence. She also served as an art and English teacher in Ukraine. "Teaching art and design in a post-Communist nation reaffirmed my belief in the irrepressible nature of the human spirit and its inextinguishable desire to communicate through the visual arts."
The RISD furniture design department went to Milan, Italy, after being selected to represent American student design at the 2004 Salone del Mobile. The students impressed renowned designer Mario Mazzer. Upon graduation from RISD, YuJune was immediately recruited to work for Studio di Architettura e Design, Mario Mazzer, in Italy. She became Mazzer's first apprentice from the United States.
YuJune recently taught English in a university post in South Korea to reconnect with her family's roots. This scholarship enables her to become a student again; she will focus on graphic and interdisciplinary design in her graduate-degree program.
"My work is united by the belief that design is a celebration of life and the creative spirit."
Other Scholars Like YuJune
Marc Silverman
College Scholar
Yale University
Garett Staley
Graduate Scholar
University of Southern California
Teveria Parks
Undergraduate Transfer Scholar
Agnes Scott College
Daniel Coeyman
Graduate Scholar
The New School