Alana L.

Alana was a student at the Visual Art Institute during junior high and high school. She was the Hillcrest High School Visual Arts Sterling Scholar in 2018 and a U.S. Congressional Art Competition winner in 2019. She won a gold medal in painting from Scholastic Arts & Writing in 2019, and was also Springville Art Museum’s Student Artist of the Year in 2019. Alana is studying Computing and Art at Yale University.

When asked about her time at VAI, Alana said:

“I remember seeing [another student’s] drawings... and I was like ‘Wow, this guy is studying here, and it’s so good!’ ... And it really motivated me... I love VAI a lot because not only has it given me mentors in terms of teachers, but being able to see all these people who are older than me... I could see what was ahead of me if I put in the same amount of effort they did.”

For a year and a half, Alana was an art director for Yale's first and only K-Pop & Urban dance group, Yale Movement. She is currently working as a Tech Intern at Howard L. Zimmerman Architects & Engineers in New York City, and also freelancing as an artist. Alana graduated from Yale with a Bachelor’s Degree in 2023.