“Welcome to SPU! My name is Madi Stephens, ex-computer science major and current studio arts major!”

While working in the Admissions office at Seattle Pacific University, I lead prospective student tours almost every week. Every tour I tell the students and their families a shortened version of my life story, and every time, the families and students give an extremely different response.

Most often I get confused parents, or nervous laughter, or even people that ask me, “Why Madi? Why would you give up the opportunity to have a stable career in a rapidly growing field for the fine arts?”

These questions have always been difficult to answer. But over time, I’ve learned to take criticism and use it as drive for myself, or even use my story as ways to inspire others who may feel unable to pursue their goals or authentically be themselves.

My transition from computer science to art was not easy.

Even as a child I witnessed artists get criticized for pursuing what they were passionate about. In my family, I’ve seen my cousin receive criticism for years for obtaining a degree in fashion design, for not “pursuing what a practical woman should” and for “wasting years worth of time and money.” This always baffled me. Why should someone undergo constant judgment for doing what they love?

Through my first year of college, I was hoping to find satisfaction from my coding work, but nothing gave me fulfillment like art. After going through a year of coursework in an area that I found no happiness from, I felt lost. Therefore, my only solution was to change my major. The first time I changed my major, I decided on political science.

What I’ve learned about society so far is that there’s this impending sense of doom that comes from a lack of certainty. Whether this feeling of stability comes from financial stability, to having a stable job, this looming anxiety affects everyone. This anxiety is what kept my passion for art suppressed.

After taking an art class my autumn quarter here at SPU, I felt truly at home, and with every drawing or project I completed I felt fulfilled. Every time a student, or even the professor, would ask me what area of art I was majoring in, I would reluctantly respond, “I’m actually not an art major.”

I was so scared of displeasing my family or being ‘a disappointment’ that I was keeping myself from exploring my full potential. The thought of that quarter coming to an end terrified me because I would finally be starting my major coursework and would never take an art class again. This is what pushed me over the edge. I hated the feeling of not being able to express myself creatively in the classroom or engage with other students with the same passion.

The night before winter quarter started, I was sitting in my bed around 3 a.m., staring at my student profile in Banner where it displayed my political science major. It sounds dramatic, but I had this moment to myself where I thought, “Why go through all this effort just to be unhappy?”

Within 10 minutes, I changed my major to studio arts, and I have never regretted that decision.

Being an art major has equally terrified and fulfilled me. In my experience with art courses, students are required to conceptualize and express the rawest of emotions and lay them out to be seen and critiqued. This vulnerability is empowering.

I’ve found that communication is not just with words, and art is not that polarized from other areas of study. As an art major, I learn how to market and communicate as a business major would. I analyze pieces and learn from their history as a humanities major would. I even study thought processes and development like a psychology major.

One of my favorite things about studying art is conceptualizing and expressing the human experience. Although life can feel messy and chaotic, raw emotion can be expressed through both 2D and 3D art forms.

The human experience is art.