"I made a career change from being a wildlife vet in Africa to come here.  I was in search of something else that I would have as much or more satisfaction in doing. I took some CS classes here, and every time I drove by the building, I would think to myself, 'These students are just the luckiest people on Earth to get to go to art school and create art.' My wake-up call came in the form of a friend of mine who was killed. She was also a wildlife vet and I realized that if enrolling in MECA was something I wanted to do, I'd better do it now.

I enrolled in the January intensive and on the first day the instructor said, 'Today, we'll do a plaster cast,' and I felt this overwhelming urge and thought, 'Oh my God, I belong here. These people have the same interests I have.' That was the first time I ever really felt like that -like 'oh, this is my home.'

One of the most inspiring things about MECA is my fellow students. Every critique, every day in the studio, I find something that makes me stop in my tracks and just admire the creativity here. My first real critique was for a 3-D class and we were looking at amazing piece after amazing piece - and these were freshmen! I was astounded by what people here do. After I finish MECA, I'm thinking about doing medical illustrations to earn money, since I have a background in medicine, but in terms of artistic output, I really just want to do everything.

The atmosphere here is different than in any school I'd ever attended before. I graduated from Harvard and Tufts Veterinary School and I've visited other schools, but MECA is different in that I've never felt any feeling of competition between students, and everybody's helpful in every way - in the studios, in the critiques, and in everyday life.

The faculty is very understanding and tries to take people as individuals and understand their individual contributions. Thinking is encouraged here. It all comes down to the final product and what you put into it, but the method is not controlled in any sort of authoritarian way. I was terrified for the first few weeks, thinking, 'I'm the only person here over 30 - they're all staring at me,' and I'd defensively say, 'I'm not the professor,' but the students were very accepting. Coming back at this age has given me a whole new level of motivation I never had before."