on youthfulness and usefulness

david mayer, veteran ADC volunteer

david mayer is one of the regular volunteers at the saturday career workshops of the art directors club. he's the father of susan, the program director, and he's probably in his 70s or 80s. i havent really been able to have a chitchat with him but im assuming it a safe guess to say that he enjoys coming over and spending his saturdays with the high school juniors that come over to the workshops.

student getting portfolio reviewed

yesterday's session was a special one. representatives from 8 different art schools/colleges in the city came over and gave presentations to the kids and their parents. further, a decent amount of time was spent with individual portfolio reviews so the kids can streamline/beef up their books in preparation for application to the colleges. some students had better works than the others. but what's good about having this review this early is that they can prepare their books in such a way that it would be easier for them to get into the program and school of their choice come application time next year.

students get their own cases

in the time between the talks and the portfolio reviews, the kids got a special treat. time warner donated portfolio cases as present for those who signed up for the review. it was amazing seeing the smile in the students' eyes as they saw their new and personalized black cases. especially that some of them had quited dilapidated and duct taped old ones.

student with her old and new book

back to david mayer and the topic—in the middle of watching david and the kids and my own talking to the students about their works, it sort of hit me. youthfulness and usefulness, aside from being quite similarly pronounced, could very well pass as synonyms. a certain youthfulness is gained in making oneself useful. perhaps, one of david's secrets as to how he's managed to stay young inspite the age. in the same vein, a certain usefulness seems to come with youthfulness. some sort of innocence and energy that drives one to be purposeful.

anyway, if that sounds too up there-ish BS, just look at david's smile up in the first photo and the girl's at the last one. notice any similarities?