Jace Popenhagen ‘21 sat at the table with his dad. He watched how his father drew waterfalls and how the pencil took the lead. He saw how focused his dad was, how his eyebrows furrowed as he shaded in the spots on his drawing while taking an occasional sip of his coffee. Jace wanted to be just like him. 

“My father would draw on everything. He drew on napkins, plates, like everything. If he was able to draw on it, he drew on it,” Popenhagen said. 

Popenhagen knew then what he had to do.

He left the table and went to grab a piece of paper and pencil. Then, he came back to the table and started drawing.

Popenhagen had found his passion. Now, he captures the beauty in the world and people. He gets inspired by the world and how it works. Drawing is one of his favorite hobbies in the world. 

Jace looked up to one of his greatest heros, his father. He said he wanted to make his dad proud, so he got inspired. 

“My dad was kind of like my idol figure when I was a kid. So I wanted to make him proud, and I thought, ‘Oh, I should start drawing too,’” Popenhagen said 

Since then, he has always been drawing and it has a special place in his heart. 

Jace has found that drawing keeps him calm and stress reliever. He also sees it as a way to escape reality for a little while. 

“It just helped me be able to think about things without actually focusing on them, Popenhagen said. “It’s a good way for me to go through my problems.”