This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at CMU chapter.
Kayla Heglas has always been a creative person. Growing up in Plum Boro, just twenty minutes from Carnegie Mellon, Kayla took great pleasure in her art classes beginning in elementary school. “I liked the satisfaction I got when I completed a piece — it was the feeling when you finish the longest math problem ever and you get it correct,” she says, adding “I still am the ultimate finger painter.”
Even though Carnegie Mellon is close to home, Kayla still had a difficult decision to make when it came to choosing colleges; there were so many other schools that she fell in love with. Ultimately, the promise of home-cooked meals paired with Carnegie Mellon’s ranking as the 7th best school for fine arts in the country won her over. Though she came in as only a fine art major, Kayla decided to pick up an additional major. “I decided I want to have a job after graduation,” she jokes. Her love for photojournalism led her to look into Carnegie Mellon’s writing program. Kayla is now a junior BHA student in fine art and professional writing.
As a fine art student, Kayla focuses on photography. She’s drawn to the control and complication that photography demands, from perfecting the lighting to the developing processes in the darkroom. “I also like proving people wrong when they say that photography isn’t real art,” Kayla says, “It’s pretty darn complicated if you are doing it correctly, especially antiquarian processes.” These older, antiquarian processes are part of what she loves about photography — that, and experimenting with the myriad of cameras and films available to photographers today.
Kayla has also found that her professional writing major plays well with her artistic side. She says that her different majors give her totally different perspectives on the world, and that allows her to think outside the box for her projects. “Both majors always keep me on my toes and remind me to never become dull and boring,” Kayla says. When you add writing to the mix, Kayla finds that you get a whole new dimension to art. “Being able to put words to my art is very satisfying,” she adds, noting that her writing major has allowed her to better articulate the meaning of her art. She also thinks her art classes help her writing, making her think more creatively about writing assignments.
As a BHA student, Kayla has to combine the elements of her two majors. She does so by focusing on the documentary aspects of photography. Through this process, Kayla photographs people and places, then interviews and writes stories about them. “I’m really into people and places’ histories and telling their stories,” she says. Of all of the classes she’s taken, Kayla can hardly think of any that she didn’t like. That’s pretty remarkable when you add in the fact that she’s taken 56+ units per semester so far. “I’m a crazy person,” Kayla says, “…I may even pick up a minor in global systems and management this semester!”
Kayla doesn’t have a particular future plan, noting that she might like to work for a magazine or as a documentary photographer. “I just go with the flow,” she says. For now, she’s working on becoming a stronger artist and writer, drawing out the truth at the core of whatever project she takes on next.