During the summer of 2017, Izzy Samperio got a head start on her college education before she was even enrolled at Rice. She attended a weeklong Black Humanities Seminar taught by Alexander Byrd.
“One of the big ‘wow’ moments for me even at Rice is how important the humanities are,” she said. “Because a lot of times people push that it’s a very STEM-focused school. And it’s very interesting to see the work of Dr. Byrd and how humanities are something that you can pursue at Rice.”
Samperio not only pursued her humanities education, she finished it this year with a Visual and Dramatic Arts degree with a studio art concentration.
“I had a professor tell me yesterday that my work is cute and gnarly at the same time, and I feel like that's kind of been in the back of my mind over the past few days, because I feel like that's a very apt description of what I do,” she said.
The senior from Houston was never far from the arts scene at Rice. She was director of the student art gallery, was featured in the Pitman Exhibition and took part in a Rice Public Art project.
“People don't realize how many different things that VADA is involved in and putting on around campus,” she said. “I was surprised at how many opportunities came up. Looking back, I am so fortunate that I was able to kind of partake in those.”