The Moore College of Art and Design, located in Philadelphia, is a prestigious school for those aspiring to careers in art and design. Its Summer Design Institute (SADI) is a highly sought-after summer school for budding young artists. One local girl, Avery Sauers, a junior at Williamsport Area High School, has been accepted to this notable summer school. She now faces the formidable task of raising the tuition to attend it. The tuition cost is $5,985.
Raising this money would certainly be quite a hurdle to overcome for Avery, but she has overcome hurdles and challenges before.
According to Avery’s mother, Erin, Avery was born profoundly deaf with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. “We did not know at birth due to an unknown reason for passing the hearing screening at Williamsport Hospital. We knew that something was off when she was a few months old.”
She continued, “We began speech therapy and learning sign language immediately. She received about 4-5 hours of therapy every week.
“After months of doctors’ appointments, she was finally diagnosed with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia when she was nine months old.
“Avery then became a good candidate for Cochlear Implants. We did a lot of research and decided to start the process when she was one year old. After many appointments with different specialists and surgeons, we scheduled her first cochlear implant surgery at 21 months old. Once we knew that her first cochlear implant was very successful and she no longer had any residual hearing on her other side, we decided to implant the right ear at almost three.
“Avery now wears cochlear implants on both sides (bilateral). Avery has always been a highly visual person.”
Avery described for Webb Weekly how her disability has affected her and how it has caused her to be more determined than ever to excel in her love of art.
“While hearing loss makes life a bit tougher for me, I have adapted to it, and I can do well with the right accommodations. My disability has also been a blessing in many ways because it steered me toward art when I was really young, and my passion for drawing and designing only continues to grow as I mature,” stated Avery.
She continued, “Art has and continues to be the way in which I can express myself to others and to the world. It has given me a voice to share my views and the way in which I see and experience the world. I started by sketching on loose pages, and those sketches turned into drawings, drawings that I watched blossom onto the blank pages of my everyday life. The blank page and blank canvas became my favorite sights because just thinking of all the endless possibilities when looking down on them was an indescribable warm feeling of excitement. Every time I press the tip of my pencil to a blank page or my paintbrush to a blank canvas, I feel free — as though I can pour out my emotions and the limitless possibilities of my life onto them. My brain works creatively, so drawing has always felt comforting and exciting to me.”
She added, “I am very interested in SADI because I feel as if it is a new and needed opportunity — a blank canvas to explore the next chapter of my young life. Not only will it give me experience away from home so that I will be better prepared for college.
“Additionally, I grew up watching cartoons as a child. For one, cartoons are difficult to make out the words through the movement of lips, so they forced me to really learn how to hear through my cochlear implants. They also inspired me from the start, fueling my already growing passion to create art and specifically animation art. I am convinced that SADI will be an exciting step for me on my journey to learn new skills and achieve my dreams.”
Avery is hosting two Bold Beginnings Fundraiser Events in the hopes of raising enough money for her to attend the four-week program during the summer of 2022. Both fundraisers will take place at Eat & Run Catering at 1000 Commerce Park Dr., Williamsport, PA 17701.
The first event is a step-by-step painting class where she will lead participants through painting a beautiful landscape. The second event will take place on Saturday, April 9, 2022, from 4-7 p.m. They will have a lasagna and Italian sausage dinner, a basket raffle, and a painting auction with Avery’s original artwork, and a 50/50 drawing during the event. Monetary donations are needed to purchase the food for the dinner event and the items for the basket raffle. Some businesses may be more inclined to donate the entire themed basket full of items for the event, which is also a great option.
For more information about these fundraisers, contact Avery’s mother, Erin, at 570-772-1422.
