Junior Maggie Dougherty toured three different high schools before ultimately choosing to come to La Salle. “My parents wanted me to have a Catholic education,” she said. “[Plus,] the community [at La Salle] seemed a lot better than the other two [schools].” She also appreciated that La Salle was smaller than the other two high schools that she looked at. 

More importantly to Dougherty, she wanted to attend a high school with a quality art program. “I really wanted to take a good art class because I hadn’t had the chance to do that before, and that’s what I’m passionate about,” she said. In order to take full advantage of La Salle’s art curriculum, Dougherty takes AP Studio Art and is a part of the National Art Honors Society. She is also planning to take AP 2D Art as a senior. 

Outside of the classes she takes at La Salle, Dougherty continues to pursue her artistic interests in a multitude of ways and enjoys incorporating social justice issues into her work. She especially focuses on issues that women have to face in our world today. “I really like making things that aren’t rainbows and butterflies,” Dougherty said. “It helps me express my feelings.” 

Dougherty also uses inspiration from a multitude of other artists when creating her work. “It’s incredible how much talent people have, and it’s so fun to just find new people and look at their art styles and stuff,” she said.

LavenderTowne, who creates art-related content on YouTube, is one of her biggest inspirations. “I’ve been watching her draw digitally, and she’s the reason why I started [getting] into digital art,” Dougherty said. “Her style is just really cute.” 

Dougherty has also won two Gold Keys in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for her two digital pieces titled “Envy’s Gaze” and “We’re Not Your Toys”. 

“I actually didn’t like [“We’re Not Your Toys”] at first, and now it’s growing on me,” Dougherty said. “I have a hard time accepting that my pieces are a finished piece because I always feel like I should be working on them and improving them.” 

Dougherty doesn’t always draw digitally. She uses a lot of acrylic paints on canvas, especially for her AP Studio Art class. “When I was actually in school [before the pandemic], it forced me to sit down and draw on actual paper and paint on canvas and experiment with other mediums than I usually do,” she said. “I don’t have access to all those anymore, and I don’t have someone pushing me to try new methods of art.” 

Because of this shift due to the coronavirus, Dougherty has been mainly focusing on her 2D Design portfolio and academic work outside of art.

“The lockdown happened the day my SAT was supposed to happen, which is crazy,” Dougherty said. “I feel burnt out… I’m just stuck at home, just solely doing work.” Dougherty said that it is harder to find the motivation to complete assignments for DLDs when she is sitting and working all day. 

In order to cure her quarantine burnout, Dougherty said that she has been baking more often, even baking two cheesecakes in one weekend recently. She has also been knitting during the past few months in order to help pass the time inside.

If Dougherty had to give one piece of advice to underclassmen now, she would ask for them to find a balance between their work and their grades. “I didn’t do a good job of that,” she said. “You should balance your work with having a little more fun… The world’s not gonna end if you don’t get everything done the way it’s supposed to and if you relax a little bit more.”