Student Success

Each year, Columbus College of Art & Design identifies the person with the highest grade point average throughout their college career and selects them as valedictorian of their graduating class.

CCAD is here for fashion’s future—and in 2023, we went big, as the annual-favorite CCAD Fashion Show was hosted at an exciting new venue: KEMBA Live! in the Arena District.

For the eighth year, Columbus College of Art & Design has recognized students’ talents with the written word with its Creative Writing Awards. Students submitted work in the categories of Poetry, Prose, and Screenwriting; first and second place awards were given for each category.

During Fashion Week Columbus, designers—including several CCAD grads—showcased their work to media, fashion buyers, and central Ohio’s fashion community. And a current student, Jiaqi Yu (Fashion Design, 2023), continued the long tradition of CCAD Fashion Design students receiving a Fashion Week Columbus scholarship.

They may not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound (let’s leave the Superman antics to the Man of Steel himself), but a group of CCAD students recently played superhero for some young artists in the making.

Some of Ratha Seng’s earliest memories are of women—family and friends, members of the Cambodian refugee community—preparing food and telling stories in the kitchen. Those memories are what ultimately promoted Seng to create and launch his own book, Tarsu Cookbook, for his Columbus College of Art & Design senior capstone project.

Prior to graduating from CCAD, Davila was one of 20 students nationwide selected for the Gotham EDU Film and Media Career Development Program for 2022. 

CCAD senior Nat Della Selva (Fashion Design, 2022), has an eye for fashion—and is no slouch when it comes to the business end of the industry, either, recently landing a $7,500 award from the national Fashion Scholarship Fund competition.

Columbus College of Art & Design senior Harrison Landis brought home top honors among his peers during the 2022 Central District IDSA Student Merit awards in March.

The most recent honors went to Maria Mendoza (Fashion Design, 2022) who was recognized for her work—designs influenced by her native Guatemala—at the fall Fashion Week Columbus.

Andy Friz is an associate professor of Animation at Columbus College of Art & Design who maintains an active creative practice, including special effects work for the long-awaited Space Jam sequel, officially titled Space Jam: A New Legacy.

In fall 2020, CCAD Film & Video students transformed two scripts from the Film Columbus Teen Screenwriting Competition into short films for their Collaborative Projects course.