Faculty Spotlight: Cristina Shin, Middle School Technology, Digital, Photography and Yearbook

Who would have guessed that a cartoon character, the emergence of 3D technology, and a career path that took her from Boise, Idaho to Africa and back, were the factors responsible for Cristina Shin coming to Crystal?

Born into a family of educators and physicians in Boise, Cristina Shin learned the importance of serving others. She was also a talented artist who entered college the moment the field of graphic design and cartoon animation was about to go through a major transformation. Boise State had just begun offering a graphic design major when Cristina arrived on campus, and she eventually spent all of her time in the school’s small computer lab, designing figures using Photoshop 1.0. At the time, most graphic design studios were in their infancy, including the tiny firm where Cristina interned during junior and senior years. Commissioned to produce designs for both large and small corporations, she honed her craft creating advertisements and earned a degree of fame with her original creation, Monty the Moose, which caught the eye of Alaskan animators who created a series of educational videos based on the character.

After graduation, Cristina was hired by a nationwide grocery chain where she designed user-friendly websites in response to the growing popularity of online shopping. As her career flourished, so did her disenchantment with the corporate world, especially when the company started to downsize its workforce.

Cristina returned to Boise State where she worked in the school’s public relations department and ran her own graphic design business. However, looking to make a greater impact in the world, she joined the Peace Corps, volunteering for two years in West Africa.

Cristina’s work in village hospitals ignited a joy for helping others and, after returning home, she decided to become a doctor, eventually moving to Sacramento where she took science classes at the local community college and supported herself as a glass artist.

All would have worked out as planned but for a failing grade in Organic Chemistry and an increasingly profitable art glass business. Cristina left community college and moved to Berkeley where she devoted herself to her art and life with a new husband and baby daughter. The family relocated to Boston, and it was here that she decided to teach, working in both independent and public schools. Looking to relocate back to the Bay Area, Cristina applied for a position at Crystal and I remember vividly Ken Considine’s remark after meeting her at a job fair, “I think we just found our graphic design teacher.”

For the past five years, Cristina has created popular and exciting graphic design courses. She has coached tennis teams (she was a college player) and mentored Yearbook staffs. Cristina also sponsors the Doodle-4-Google competition where participants use the iconic Google logo as a pictorial response to a prompt. Last year’s prompt: "If I could invent one thing that would make the world a better place…" is emblematic of Cristina’s approach to teaching, which combines creativity with a message that art can transform a community.