ALUMNI
SPOTLIGHT ELLIE & MAGGIE NEWLIN
Ellie and Maggie Newlin came to Wichita Collegiate School in 2001 as they entered 2nd Grade, and graduated in the Class of 2012. Both agree WCS gave them a foundation on which to pursue their passion: art! We took an interest in art classes at WCS from the beginning, but really started to consider majoring in something art related after having Mr. B and Mrs. Morales as teachers. Mr. B and Mrs. Morales encouraged us to explore our creative sides more and continually improve our art and refine our skills. We were encouraged to make our artwork more personal and to put more of ourselves into each piece. They both gave us the confidence to pursue a career in design.
is the Marketing Design Director for the Greater Wichita YMCA. While Ellie and Maggie enjoy careers apart from one another, they still make time to be creative together through ME Design. We started creating murals for accent walls in Nies model homes in 2016. Nies had an idea for a model home and asked us to bring it to life. We were nervous, but excited to take our artwork to a larger scale and we knew it would be fun to work together on a project. This is where our collaboration of murals began and where ME Designs originated. This working relationship led to several other murals in model homes, including the opportunity to donate our skills to the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway. After completing a chalk mural for Nies Homes, we challenged ourselves to complete something bigger with a wider audience. We signed up for Chalk Talks at the Pop-Up Park on Douglas Avenue during the summer of 2017. We designed our version of the Wichita flag that called attention to all the great things Wichita has to offer, showcasing typography and floral elements. It was amazing to receive such a positive response from the Wichita community while we were working on the mural and after its completion. That very same design has a permanent home now near the corner of Douglas and Cleveland.
CL ASS OF 2012 The twins graduated from Friends University in the Class of 2016, both with a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design. Throughout our college careers at Friends University, we were both fortunate enough to have on-campus internships that allowed us to kick-start our graphic design careers. Ellie designed materials for the Christian Spiritual Formation department. Maggie worked in the Marketing and Communications office, on both internal and external communication pieces. The summer before our senior year, we received internships with local businesses. Ellie designed apparel graphics and Maggie worked as a creative intern for an advertising agency. We were fortunate enough to get full-time job offers upon graduation. Ellie currently works as a Production Designer at Open Road Brands in Kansas City, and Maggie
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Avenue Art Days has become an annual fall event in which local artists to submit designs specific to enhancing areas within the Douglas Design District. We’ve loved participating in Avenue Art Days the last three years because it is so widely supported by the community, and we have been overwhelmed by the support of our family and friends. Our 2018 mural can be found at Douglas and Poplar, while our 2019 mural can be found in Clifton Square at Douglas and Yale. Having grown up in ICT, we love to create unique collaborations that highlight the beauty of our hometown. Two of our murals that uniquely show our love for Wichita have found their way onto T-shirts that are sold locally. We have loved building new relationships with local businesses and creating works of art unique to each of them. A handful of these opportunities have come to fruition because of our Collegiate connections. One of our most recent pieces of art can be found at Homegrown in Bradley Fair, and last year we painted temporary, seasonal storefront windows for Beau Monde and ICT Eye. Having these connections because of Collegiate is really special and has helped us to build our own business. But more than anything, our teachers and coaches at Collegiate encouraged us to chase after our passions and ultimately led us into careers that we love.
