Elizabeth Orban

Art has always been the center of 21-year-old Elizabeth Orban’s young life. She remembers, as a youngster, eating with one hand while clutching a colorful, chubby crayon with the other, but it wasn’t until she enrolled at Northern Essex that the Plaistow, NH, resident decided art was her life’s calling.

Today, Elizabeth is in her senior year at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
A 2009 graduate of Timberlane High School, she enrolled at Northern Essex because she was not sure what she wanted to major in and just as sure she didn’t want to incur a private-school- kind-of-debt to find out.

She changed majors three times before giving in to the one subject she loved so much. With her focus on art, Elizabeth embraced life as an art student at NECC eagerly exploring different mediums, building her portfolio, and polishing her artist’s statements.

“My professors were helpful with all of this,” she says. “They are actively working as artists themselves so they offered great guidance.”

Elizabeth graduated in 2011 with an associate degree in general studies with a visual arts option and was accepted to SAIC. A merit scholarship sweetened the pot as did her ability to transfer two years of college credits.

“I always assumed I would transfer to a four year school once I selected a major, but it wasn’t until a representative of SAIC visited my art class did I ever give the school a thought,” she says. “I knew I found a school where I could continue to grow.”

“I found I was ready to compete. It confirmed for me that Northern Essex gave me the same education I would have received at a four-year college.”

She will graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from SAIC in December of 2013.