Marc Elin

PRINCIPAL

Grace Curtin-Fiano
Amy Zigler
ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS

8695 WINDSOR ROAD

WINDSOR, CA 95492
707-837-7767
FAX 707-837-7773

April 2, 2017
To Whom It May Concern,
It is my pleasure to write a letter of recommendation for Shayna Kubichek. Shayna is one of my
Advanced Digital Photography students and I have known her for two years. I know that she is interested
in following a career path in the arts, possibly fashion design and costuming, and has a passion for
theatrical and visual expression. It is my opinion that Shayna is well suited to a professional life of
creative work.

Shayna most obvious strengths are in the conceptual arena. She handles open ended prompts well and
appears very comfortable with defending her choices about where she takes her work. On occasions
when Shayna has run into the obstacle of realizing that her technical skills have not developed far enough
to help her fully realize her ideas, she has had the awareness to stop and learn what she needs to in the
moment so that her concepts can come to life. Given that in real life we are often thrown into tasks in
which we must learn as we go, I think that Shaynas tenacity and open approach to creative problem
solving will stand her in good stead. I have watched Shaynas confidence in her own voice grow over the
last two years and would describe her as someone who is ready to take risks and who will thrive in a
larger community of artists.

Shayna is an articulate and thoughtful participant in critiques. I have seen her rise to a variety of
occasions in which a mindful delivery was needed and offer insightful analysis while taking consideration
of the feelings and skill set of the recipient of her feedback. She will wait for the more impatient students
to take their turn, then give very deliberate and specific suggestions for how her peers can improve. In
turn, Shayna accepts feedback and advice with poise and has the maturity for calm dissent. Recently we
toured the Diane Arbus show at SFMOMA, and both the docent and I were impressed with how
comfortable Shayna was in speaking up and drawing interpretations about the work we were viewing.

Leadership and community-mindedness are also areas in which Shayna has already emerged and I think
will continue to. She has a strong sense of justice and a desire to contribute to the world, and has
demonstrated that she is not shy about jumping in to a group and doing her share of the work.

Please do not hesitate to contact me; I am available at mgrehan@wusd.org if you would like more
information.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Noxon Grehan

Photography Instructor, Windsor High School