Meet the Intern: Ellen Havasy
Learn more about our Graphic Design and Social Media intern for summer 2016, Ellen Havasy!
TheHumanist.com: What is your educational and work background?
After graduating from Langley High School in 2011, I enrolled into Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Arts—this is the university’s program for illustrative and commercial artwork. During my time there, I took many classes such as figure drawing and traditional portraiture, typography, the design and implementation of branding materials, and sequential work such as storyboarding. I have also worked on both sides of the production line, having been both a content producer as well as an editor for various projects. Since graduating in 2015, I have been keeping busy with commercial and freelance graphic design work and am happy to bring my skills designing branding and publication materials to the table.
TheHumanist.com: What interested you most about working for the American Humanist Association?
So much information about the AHA is readily available online. Oftentimes when I research a company or group I consider applying to, they would have a cute mission statement and lots of positive reviews from their user base, but AHA’s online presence gave me a thorough idea of what the organization actually intends to accomplish and how it plans on improving the world we live in.
TheHumanist.com: Did you grow up in a particular religious tradition? What was the experience like?
Though my parents are secular Catholic and Protestant, for most of my life we attended Catholic church services and have participated in Catholic or Christian weddings of family members. Falling out of the practice gave me the detachment necessary to look at the church and its doctrines from a removed perspective. Though we stopped attending our particular diocese because their constant demands for donations were getting annoying, I also became somewhat disillusioned with traditional Christianity’s views on women’s issues and on the LGBTQ community.
TheHumanist.com: What’s your favorite book?
I’ve always been a big fan of fantasy and science fiction series. My current favorite series is Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small quartet.
TheHumanist.com: If you could have dinner with any three people (living or dead), who would they be and why?
I would probably choose to dine with some of my favorite artists and animators, such as Hayao Miyazaki, Jeremy Wilson, and Kelly Alder—although I might need a translator for the ones who didn’t speak English as a first language!