After years of discovering what they wanted to do, Miranda Palladino found a home in the Creative Technologies major at University of California, Santa Cruz. Though they originally set out to study art, Palladino found exploring their options was the best way forward.
They were raised in Maryland with their twin brother who Palladino describes as being their “complete opposite in every way.” Palladino is in the arts, their twin is in tech; Palladino has glasses but good hearing, their twin has the opposite.
Growing up in Maryland Palladino attended a rigorous arts high school. The experience taught them that while they still wanted to study art, the competitiveness of an arts college would not be the right fit for them. After graduating high school in 2019 they started taking classes at community college.
However, Palladino still felt burned out from their high school experience and decided to take a year off. They spent that time working with AmeriCorp through Triple C, a student based program. This work helped Palladino earn scholarships for their future education.
For a year they travelled around the country with people in their age group volunteering in a multitude of ways including working on wildfire mitigation in California, doing taxes in the attic of an old folks home in Montana, and helping in a low income LGBTQ housing initiative in Oregon. The volunteer work coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and they helped with the first vaccination clinic in Montana.
When the year of travel wrapped up, Palladino re-enrolled in community college. They received their Associate’s Degree from Frederick Community College in Maryland. In an effort to expand their education, Palladino transferred into UC Santa Cruz in Fall 2023. They had friends who’d attended and loved it, plus they’d loved their time living in California during their travels.
Palladino started as an Art major, but quickly learned that their expected path was not the best fit. “I wanted somewhere that was going to give me creative flexibility, but I really had a bit of a difficult time adjusting to the curriculum of the art program, and I found that it really wasn’t what I needed out of my education,” they say. “I was really interested in graphic design, mostly, and learning Adobe suite, and I found that the art program was almost a little bit too diverse.”
After struggling through their first quarter, they decided to pursue Creative Technologies when it was announced as a new major. Now they have straight As and the new program has allowed them to balance their love of art with a desire to learn more technical skills.
Along with Creative Technologies, Palladino is also an Electronic Music Minor. “There are really not a lot of schools that would have allowed me to pursue an art major and also have a music minor without me having to strictly be in music,” they say. “I am learning how to DJ and mix music.” Palladino’s goal is to produce music and graphic design materials for local labels.
For now, Palladino works at a cafe, which they love. “I actually find it to be super fulfilling. I really enjoy looking cute every day and making little coffees for people.” Being in Creative Technologies, the UC system’s first fully online major, gives them flexibility to pursue their job and outside endeavors without letting their education suffer. “If there’s a scheduling conflict, in another world I wouldn’t have been able to make it to campus,” Palladino says. “But here I can whip my phone out as I’m walking to my car to go home, to get to a place where I can be more present in my class and still not miss anything.”
With their first quarter of Creative Technologies completed, Palladino is feeling better about their education and future in the art world. “Each of my classes were everything that I really wanted,” they say. “Creative Technologies popped up as like an absolute miracle, and it was everything I wanted and more in a program”