Graphic Designers — Each year the President’s Writing Awards works with a graphic design student to create posters, fliers, and banners to market the awards.
Clara Adams, Designer
Clara Adams grew up in Portland Oregon, and is studying Graphic Design, Arts Entrepreneurship, and UX design at Boise State University. She is the president of Student Association of Graphic Arts (SAGA), and the founder of Boise Hiker’s Guild. Clara is passionate about and inspired by the outdoors and hiking, and loves drinking (and painting with) coffee. Learn more about Clara and her work on her portfolio website.
Alexandra Chavez
Alexandra Chavez
Alexandra (Lexi) Chavez was born in Texas and shortly moved to Boise after she was born. Since 2001 she has called Boise home and decided to stick around for college. When she was younger she loved drawing fantasy creatures and always sketched them in her notebook. She continued this into high school where she also gained a passion for design and finally took the next step in improving her artwork. Although she still loved to code and create things with her hands, she decided that she wanted to go a more digital route. Lexi then found out about GIMM (Games and Interactive Media & Mobile) at Boise State University, where she was able to combine her love of art and code. Lexi also works in Web Design as her job and works to code sites for clients, she enjoys her coding work and any graphic work she receives.
President’s Writing Awards 2020 Poster by Alexandra Chavez
Malena Darden
Malena Darden
Originally from Oregon, Malena Darden grew up in Kyrgyzstan, moving to Boise with her family in 2010. Although she has always loved art, she first started to consider following a creative career path near the end of high school when she took several art classes and started doing commissioned artwork for friends and family. She’s now in her final semester of the graphic design program at Boise State, and is excited to see where life will take her after graduation.
Manuel Baeza has been living in Boise and Meridian, Idaho, since the age of 5. Since a young age Manuel has had a deep passion for drawing and creating things out of random materials (building a building out of wire, cardboard, wires and hot glue). Growing up, Baeza believed that he would be an architect, but halfway through his high school years, he discovered graphic design and fell in love with it. Unknowingly, the countless doodles that he used to make when he was a kid grew alongside him, to the point in which those doodles on paper graduated to become doodles on the computer. Baeza is currently in his junior year at Boise State and is getting ready to apply to the graphic design program. In the future, he plans to take his graphic design to the world stage to use it as a way to bring people together and work for some of the world’s biggest companies.
Manuel’s 2018 President’s Writing Award Poster
Brooke Cassity
Brooke Cassity grew up in Ontario, Oregon, a small town located an hour away from Boise, Idaho. Before going to Boise State, she received her Associate’s Degree at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario. From there, she discovered graphic design was her thing. She is currently in her final year of the graphic design program at Boise State. After graduation, she hopes to expand her own business and find a job in the Boise area.
Brooke’s 2017 President’s Writing Award Poster
Glenna Gomez
Glenna Gomez was a pre-school doodler. She doodled at the table, on the floor, in the church pew. What does she do outside of school and work? She doodles. Only the doodles have evolved into sophisticated designs and abstract paintings in acrylic and watercolor.
Sketchpad to canvas, pencil point to brush stroke, Glenna is an artist in motion who draws inspiration from everything, including the outdoors. “I enjoy sketching and painting in my spare time … I also enjoy hiking because nature has the best color palettes.”
“Ever since I can remember I’ve always been extremely curious and in awe of the world around me. These feelings prompted me to draw what I imagined the world would look like if some things were rearranged. So naturally, when I was introduced to graphic design, I felt a sense of belonging. Being able to express my creativity was exactly what I wanted in a career.”
In 2012, Glenna graduated with an associate’s degree in graphic design in print media from Idaho State University. While there, she interned for the Idaho State Journal creating everything from advertisements to logos. The experience prepared her for the next step—Boise State University.
Glenna is majoring in graphic design and works for Student Affairs Marketing designing poster, flyers, brochures and other promotional materials for student events. She said the position “allows me to expand my skills and knowledge. Even though I have gained three years of experience, I feel like I’ve barely skimmed the surface.
“There is so much more to learn … I have been able to take my creative ideas and express them in designs with high visual impact. My goal is to never stop my adventure in the graphic design world.”
Glenna is from Blackfoot, Idaho. She is also majoring in Spanish with an emphasis in business and plans to graduate spring 2016. Her vision is to open a studio in Boise and help the Hispanic business community by creating effective designs.
Glenna’s 2016 President’s Writing Award Poster
Lauryn Medeiros
Originally from California, Lauryn moved to Idaho to complete her first degree in Fine Art at the College of Idaho and fell in love with Boise’s music and art scene. She is now enrolled at Boise State University as a second-degree Graphic Design and Illustration student. She also works as the student Graphic Designer for the Bronco shop and Bookstore on campus. When she’s not at the Boise State Campus, you can find her working at Angela R. Stewart Design, Inc. A.K.A. Ladybug Press, where she gets to illustrate and design greeting cards, coasters and other various projects. Freelancing jobs help her learn as well as stay current with her skills. Lauryn works on illustration and design for various small companies, clients, and friends.
