ASB alumna Ana Holschuh is back on campus to support community service together with Ms. Marta Vernet, Head of Activities and Community Service. Ana attended ASB for 11 years with her brother, Max. Following ASB, she attended Parsons School of Design, The New School in NYC, where she graduated with a dual-degree in Integrated Design and Global Studies. Currently, Ana is pursuing a postgraduate degree in Children’s Illustration at EINA University School of Design and Art of Barcelona.

In addition to supporting service-learning at the neighboring organization Fundación Asproseat, an occupational center for people with disabilities, Ana is also helping to organize ASB’s annual student-led fundraiser, RefugART, aimed at raising awareness on the global refugee crisis.

“I am involved in some exciting collaborative projects with ASB students, like creating a short documentary about the migration stories found within our own ASB community.”

When asked to describe her professional experience and aspirations, Ana shares,

“I’m a designer, researcher, and illustrator deeply passionate about using community-based design, media, and art to create a positive social impact.

I have a wide range of experiences working with nonprofits and community-based organizations. In the past years, I have brought free arts programming to homeless shelters and social service centers in NYC, co-created resources to help teachers implement participatory budgeting in their schools, and supported a youth media collective formed of residents living in informal settlements in Cape Town. 

In my free time, you can find me sketching all over Barcelona”. 

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ASB will always hold a special place in Ana’s heart. She recognizes many attributes that ASB ignited in her as a student. 

“ASB was a place where I could grow as a person beyond the classroom in a myriad of ways, and that is what I cherished most about my time there. I recall the campaigns raising awareness about how galgo dogs are treated, the exciting guest speakers that attended our assemblies, and leading a milk collection at school that I then donated to El Banc d’Aliments… I always felt a sense of community and care for others beyond our own school, and I think this has only gotten stronger throughout the years. Today, I see myself as a very multidisciplinary person that belongs in a multitude of spaces at once: the design world, the academic sphere, the nonprofit world, at community service centers, etc. I think ASB was the starting point where I let myself grow in more than one direction without being scared of having to define my passions in only one set, prescribed way.” 

Reflecting on ASB teachers who impacted and inspired her as a student, Ana joyfully shares, 

“I was part of the after-school program organized by Ms. Marta Vernet called Bridging Through Art, which was my first experience being part of an art workshop with people with disabilities at the neighboring organization Fundación Asproseat. Looking back, I can now see the huge impact this had in my life, as I now continue to search for ways in which my work and passion intersect with social justice causes, and am interested in art as a powerful, therapeutic tool to create social connections. Today, I am now leading workshops at Asproseat with ASB students who are having their own experiences bringing arts programming to people with disabilities, and it feels like such a great, wholesome, full-circle moment in my life! I have to thank Marta for connecting me with impactful service learning opportunities from such a young age.”

“I remember Ms. Ana Martinez, my IB Visual Arts teacher, was such a caring, loving person that always brought her full self into the room and made students feel comfortable opening up. She helped me feel empowered to pursue my studies in the world of the arts. In her classes, I created my first pieces of art criticizing society’s unjust structures.” 

“Ms. Charmaine Monds, my English Literature Teacher, helped me realize how passionate I was about analyzing written texts and prose, which pushed me to better understand society’s systems and structures… Today, as a designer, these are skills that I continue to harness in my work by envisioning better services and products with and for people.”

ASB in one word?
“Open.”

Once a Lynx, Always a Lynx!

Contributed: February 2022