The halls of Rogers High School hold a student by the name of Gillian Ward – a girl who’s worth knowing. a dancer for about 12 years, and was even on the Rogers cheer team, but many may not know she’s unbelievably artistic.  

Some might think that because she’s quite well-known and was on the cheer team she’d be the typical “mean girl” — one with the football player boyfriend, relevant on social media, rude to every outcast. However, she’s the opposite.  

Knowing Ward’s background is particularly important to understanding who she is. She started dancing when she was just three years old, but unfortunately, she had to stop after she broke both feet around age fifteen. 

 “I couldn’t do the thing I loved anymore, and then I kind of decided that I was done with that and once my feet healed, I started doing cheer,” said Ward.  

She had only been cheerleading for three months until she got into a car accident, resulting in lasting post-concussion migraines and body pains. However, being unable to cheer is not where her interest in the arts came from.  

“I’ve always been interested in the arts!” said Ward. “I originally, before I was in the Puyallup School District, went to Elk Plain School of Choice, the school of Arts and Sciences, so they focused on art there.” 

Staff from Rogers say Ward is an incredible student who is very welcoming. She’s not one to be mean or rude, but she does have some sass to her. With her involvement in the arts, she has grown close to painting and drawing teacher Paul Gorski and ceramics teacher Amy Arand during her two years in their classes. They’ve described her as someone who is helpful and positive.  

“I think she’s the type of person that if somebody needed something, she’d probably be the first to step up and say ‘hey I got it’,” said Gorski. 

At the last art show, Ward had thirteen projects on display, both painted and ceramic, and even included one of her welded “spark plug bugs” on the display. At one point, Ward was really interested in making “tiny pots” in ceramics according to Arand.

“She thinks tiny art is cute and funny, and whenever I think of cutesy artwork, I always think of Gillian. Bright colors, fun stuff, you know things that just make you happy,” said Arand. 

After graduation Ward plans on doing an apprenticeship for Boeing, just like her parents. Her art isn’t limited to just the school setting either; she has both a wheel and kiln at home which she was gifted for her birthday. She’ll continue making her cute little art pieces and possibly start selling her artwork, which her father is a big supporter of.  

If you’re interested in seeing more of her fantastic art pieces you can visit her Instagram: https://instagram.com/gillianward_art?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==