Community Editorial: "How Losing Myself for a Summer Helped Me Find Myself for a Lifetime

The theme of Connect, Grow, and Refresh allowed me to reflect on my higher education and career trajectory. I am mid-career now, but feel such a sense of gratitude when I took the time to think about the people and fortuitous timing that helped me to arrive where I am today.

Connect

Connections can happen when we search for opportunities both near and far. In 2008 I was a junior majoring in Illustration at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL, and I was scrolling through job opportunities on the College Central Network website. I found a Production Artist position at a local screenprinting company, and a national posting for a Cartooning Assistant Art Teacher position at Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts (Usdan) located on Long Island. Usdan is a unique day camp in that it offers art, creative writing, dance, music, theater, chess, nature and sustainability, and recreational arts programs. They looked interesting to me so I applied to both positions simultaneously.

Soon thereafter I was hired locally in Florida as a full-time production artist, and got a phone interview with Usdan in New York. The art chairperson, Rochelle, said she was impressed by my website, and thus moved my resume to the top of the pile. Back then portfolio websites were still relatively new, and I had just built mine in a Web Design class (and still program it myself to this day). We had a phone interview and I emailed her a picture of myself, and a week later she hired me for that summer. I asked my local job if I could take seven unpaid weeks off during the slower summer months to work in New York and luckily they said yes. I stayed with my Aunt Sally in her apartment in a tenement building in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and only had to walk to her corner to be picked up by the Usdan school bus that was ferrying city kid campers to and from Long Island. One of the perks of the job was that I could ride for free with them–all of this felt like it was meant to be.

The connections I made that summer turned out to be permanent. On my first day as an art assistant I was sitting at the picnic tables behind the art studios eating my lunch while overseeing the campers. Another assistant invited me to move to the next table over to sit with her and some other assistants. Little did I know that I had just met my two closest friends to this day, Hillary and Alicia. For the next three years I worked as a production artist in Florida and during the summers came to New York to stay with my aunt to teach at Usdan. This dual career opportunity gave me a simultaneous taste of working for a multinational corporation whose mission was to grow profits for their shareholders, versus teaching creativity and art skills to students. Additionally, Usdan promoted me to a lead art teacher position, and I got to create my own Book Design and Illustration class to teach there. That and my continuing friendships with my Usdan colleagues inspired me to make a career shift. I researched art education masters programs in New York City, settled on the one year MAT program at the School of Visual Arts (SV A), and moved to New York during the Spring of 2011. I taught my fourth summer at Usdan and then started my masters program that fall.

Hillary, Alicia, and I became fast friends, here we are at Usdan in 2008

Grow

Growth can come from self-discovery, research, and fostering relationships. Usdan’s motto is “Lose yourself for a summer. Find yourself for a lifetime” (Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts, 2026). This tenet applies to the campers, but it also applied to me as a young adult who was teaching there. This concept inspired me to write my SV A masters thesis about Usdan. I investigated the ways that adolescents find their identity, and how Usdan provides creative experiences to help them discover their artistic abilities. Similarly, Usdan was pivotal in orchestrating the direction of my professional life.

As I was building my career my Usdan colleagues and I grew up together. We have been here for each other through major life events including births, deaths, weddings, divorces, attending each others’ art openings, buying real estate, and getting awarded tenure, as well as small everyday trifles. Our friendships continue to grow since we spend the time nurturing these relationships. Hillary and I text every day and get together when time allows, and I see Alicia every day at work since we now teach across the hall from one another. At the 2025 Balanced Mind Conference for art educators we three all attended, and got to eat lunch together again like old times.

Alicia and I in my classroom this year

Hillary and I hanging out after work

Refresh

Sometimes making a change is required in order to refresh our goals and interests. After graduating with my masters degree and surviving a year of cobbling together four part-time jobs I landed a full-time art teaching position in New York City. However, after four years I was ready for a change. Alicia and I were in touch more often because life had thrown her a curveball, and when I mentioned I wanted to change schools she told me that her colleague who taught art across the hall from her was retiring at the end of that year. She put in a good word when I submitted my resume, and I ended up getting hired at the middle school where she teaches art. Coincidentally, I now teach in the town where Hillary grew up, in the very same classroom where she took art when she was in middle school. I make a similar commute as I did to Usdan, except it is on the Long Island Rail Road with adults instead of a school bus packed with kids.

I ended up teaching at Usdan for eight summers in all, and decided to leave in 2015 after two years of teaching during the summer while also teaching full time during the school year in order to give myself a break. Opening up my time off to new experiences allowed me to discover the fascinating world of artist residencies through the National Park Service.

Recently I attended a Usdan Alumni Engagement event with a former student who I taught at Usdan who is now my friend, Rudy. He is the same age now as I was when I taught him. He also grew up in the district where I teach now, did I mention serendipity? Spending time with a packed room full of people who also had such fond memories of Usdan inspired me to write this article. Maintaining contact with organizations, colleagues, students, and friends opens up unexpected connections for us to grow, connect, and refresh. It is never too late to forge a connection to others, and to look back with perspective to see how certain opportunities shaped our lives.

Resources

School of Visual Arts - Masters in Art Education program: https://sva.edu/academics/graduate/ma-mat-art-education/curriculum

Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts: https://www.usdan.org/

References

Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts (2026). Why Usdan?

https://www.usdan.org/about-us/why-usdan

Bio

Dr. Heather Heckel, EdD is an artist/art educator living in New York City and teaching on Long Island. Her award-winning artwork has been shown internationally, is in several national permanent collections, and is featured regularly in the Park Slope Reader. She is a lifelong learner who loves to travel, and has been awarded 32 artist residencies through the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historical Preservation. She is in her 13th year of teaching public school art, and has taught at the college, and middle/high school levels. She earned her BFA in Illustration from the Ringling College of Art and Design, her MAT in Art Education from the School of Visual Arts, her MFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and her EdD in Educational Leadership from the University of the Cumberlands. Her research investigated the relationships between art education, leadership, and creativity. She lives with her two dozen houseplants and loves going to the movies and trying new vegan restaurants.