On September 21, the Long Beach Public Library reopened its doors with an improved and renamed library. The now Billie Jean King Library held an opening ceremony with guest speakers such as Mayor Robert Garcia, council member Jeanine Pierce, among others as well as the tennis player and women’s right activist herself, Billie Jean King. King was greeted by an uproar of applause and proceeded to tell the story of how she would sleep with her tennis racquet and library books at night. The Poly alumni is fiercely loyal to Long Beach and hopes this new addition will be a helpful resource to the community.
Tag: Poly Alumni
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Poly Alumni Success Story
Majoring in the arts can be a controversial risk for those applying to college because the debate still stands of whether it is a reliable source of income.
Helena Hsieh has had her successes in the art industry around the country, beginning with her experiences at Poly. She is a former Poly graduate who attended UCLA majoring in English. She continued to pursue her artistic career in graphic design and went to school at the San Francisco Art Institute. Like many, Hsieh used art as an outlet for her emotions that soon developed into a passion when she took art classes as a freshman at Poly.
When initially applying for colleges, she was unsure of what she truly wanted to do as a career, in her mind art was still a risk because of financial reasons. Her parents were worried that she would not prosper and also remained skeptical that she didn’t choose a secure career in a different industry. Despite possibly disappointing her parents, Hsieh decided to take that risk of becoming an artist. She surpassed the struggling artist stereotype and consistently worked other jobs to make sure she had a stable income. She made connections as she moved farther away from Long Beach and felt like she made the right decision to follow her passion.
Even after traveling the world, Hsieh realized that Long Beach will always be her home and the place her career took off. Her words of wisdom for those considering art as a career is to always “be passionate.” Do not believe that “what you create has to be mainstream in order to succeed” because then your work would no longer be meaningful to you. Even if times might might be hard financially, “it isn’t always about the money” and the real reward is doing what you love everyday.