The whole time while I was contacting MassArt about helping me apply to the Casa Herrera program I was also in contact with the directors of the program itself. Because I had met Milady while in Guatemala, I was able to send her an e-mail and ask her who I would need to contact to discuss applying for the program. She introduced me to Laurie Young. I contacted Laurie via e-mail on the 16th of March and was given all the information I needed as a non-UT student about the program.
On the 23rd of March I got the application for the program from Laurie and I started working on getting the application done as quickly and thoroughly as I could because the due date for the application was on the 1st of April.
By March 25th I started contacting Jean Wallace, the Assistant Director of Academic Advising at MassArt. I was getting anxious about whether or not I would be able to take part in the Casa Herrera program with MassArt's support. Prof. Turner was extremely wonderful about supporting my decision to try to apply to the program and she contacted Jean on my behalf stressing the uniqueness of the program and its legitimacy. When I heard back from Jean there were several questions about why the program needed to happen in the Fall so I explained my situation with classes and my degrees.
Both Meghan and Jean suggested that I try taking a leave of absence from MassArt for the semester and take part in the program on my own. Though I think that this is a very reasonable course of action, as a full double major and a fifth year undergrad, it was essential for myself and my parents, who assist in paying for my college tuition and fees, that the classes I take in Guatemala would be accepted credits toward my MassArt degrees. By taking a leave of absence I would have to convince the school upon my return to allow the credits from the program go toward my degrees and I couldn't afford for the school to not accept them.
I stressed that I would like to meet with Jean and Meghan in person so that I could explain why I was being so persistent and express to them my earnest, a difficult feat in text. Jean was wonderful and, even though I had missed every single deadline for MassArt, she was willing to meet with me on the 30th of March.
Our meeting went really well, and I was able to explain my reasoning better while we were in person. I had also brought in as much information about the program as I had available. I was also able to introduce myself and express in person my excitement about this program and what it had to offer.
During our meeting, Jean and Meghan told me that they were willing to examine the program and take the steps to try and help me not only apply for the program but have MassArt's support as well. I was extremely excited that I was being given such a chance. This was not a guarantee that MassArt would approve of the program, but it was a start! To help with the process I did part of the research for Jean and Meghan.
As we started the process of approving the program Meghan contacted Laurie and asked them to extend the deadline again so that I could still try to get into the program.
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