News Story
March 15, 2017
La Roche Student Named Finalist in Photography Competition
PITTSBURGH, March 15, 2017 – Photographer’s Forum Magazine recently selected La Roche University student Olivia Healy as a finalist for its 37th annual College and High School Photography Contest.
Ms. Healy’s photography was selected from nearly 13,000 submissions entered by students across the United States, Canada and worldwide. Professional photographers and college-level photography instructors judge each entry and determine the first- through fourth-place winners and 100 honorable mentions. Ms. Healy’s photograph depicts a woman that she met while walking along the streets of Havana, Cuba in March 2016.
“I saw a beautiful woman with so much character,” Ms. Healy explained. “Her outfit was extravagant, but not as big as her personality. She wore this very pigmented purple, and set up a fortune-telling stand on the corner perpendicular to a bright, yellow wall. It screamed to me as a perfect moment to show the color and culture of Cuba to the world. The complementary colors of purple and yellow came together better than I could have imagined. I showed her the photographs, and she was so excited that she posed for more.”
A junior graphic design student, Ms. Healy visited Cuba as part of La Roche’s Study Abroad+Study USA program, which provides short-term travel courses included in the cost of tuition. The course, Special Topics in Graphic Design: Cuba, allowed Ms. Healy and other participating students to create a visual narrative that documented and communicated various components of Cuban life.
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design Andy Schwanbeck said, “I believe it’s Olivia’s inquisitive nature that enables her to create such thoughtful and impressive work. Whether graphic design or photography, she executes her work with a skillful balance of passion, ability and humility – qualities that don’t often come together this early in a person’s career.”
Ms. Healy, a 2014 graduate of Brentwood High School, is the daughter of Karen and Jeffrey Healy. Her work will be published in “Best of College and High School Photography 2017,” a full-color, hard-bound publication with separate sections for college and high school finalists. The book is distributed to college libraries and instructors of photography, art and graphic design.
“It was amazing to go to such a raw, untouched country such as Cuba,” she said. “I am so blessed that I am able to show others the world around them, especially places they otherwise won’t get to see.”
Established in 1977, Photographer’s Forum Magazine is an award-winning quarterly publication dedicated to quality reproduction of photography in the United States and Canada. Each issue strives to facilitate communication and publication experience among emerging professionals.
About La Roche University: A private liberal arts college in the North Hills of Pittsburgh, La Roche University offers more than 50 undergraduate majors, six graduate degree programs and one doctoral program, with particular strengths in education, business, criminal justice, psychology, and health and medical sciences as well as interior design and graphic design. This residential college provides a vibrant campus community for more than 1,500 men and women enjoying 30-plus student organizations and an exciting NCAA Div. III athletics program. Founded by the Sisters of Divine Providence in 1963, La Roche University embraces its Catholic heritage while welcoming people of all faiths and backgrounds. With a legacy of social justice and a commitment to international exchange, La Roche University educates students to be lifelong learners and achievers in an increasingly diverse and global society.
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