Lindsay Boudreaux picked up the class schedule book during her sophomore year and searched for an art elective to fulfill her curriculum as a marketing major. Not wanting to sit through class scribbling notes and being bored, the Metairie native scratched off the 100-level lecture classes. Instead, she chose to take beginning design, a class where she could apply the art skills she learned in high school. She fell in love with art again.

Boudreaux continued to take more art classes. She advanced from drawing to color design to computer graphic design. She hoped to minor in graphic design, but she will not complete the necessary classes before she graduates in May. She does, however, hope to continue studying art after she obtains her master’s degree in marketing.

While Boudreaux’s ultimate dream of becoming a part-time artist may not happen for a few more years, the 21-year-old’s experience and work with visual art did not go unnoticed or wasted. Angela Hammerli, Jubilee coordinator, chose her original poster to represent the sixth annual Jubilee Arts and Humanities Festival at Nicholls. The event starts today and ends on April 24.

“I was very excited when I found out from (art instructor) Kiren Watts that I won,” Boudreaux said. “I worked on it for a long time, and it’s quite an honor to play such a big part in a big event like Jubilee.”

Boudreaux’s beige poster with a large red “J” to the left of center and other important information about Jubilee written in different tones of red represents an event that has drawn more than 30,000 visitors from across the nation since 1999. It focuses on cultural and educational events including performances, exhibits, presentations, discussions, workshops, readings and demonstrations.

Boudreaux created a poster for a project in her typography class of three students last fall. After the instructor graded one poster, each student submitted a few posters to Hammerli. The students designed each poster without preconceived ideas about the design. Boudreaux submitted five posters.

“We just played around with a bunch of things to get it the way we liked them,” Boudreaux said. “I submitted it before the end of last semester and didn’t know it was chosen until I came back this semester. I wondered the whole break if mine was chosen.”

After Hammerli chose one of Boudreaux’s posters as the winner, Hammerli sent the poster back to Boudreaux several times for editing. Boudreaux made the necessary changes, but she also created a new poster. She sent the new along with the edited original, and it was accepted. Both were designed through the Quark desktop publishing program.

“I tried different letters and different size fonts,” Boudreaux said. “I wanted to make a significant improvement from the first one by changing the color and playing around with different things. I never thought the second one would get picked, but decided to give it a try. It was picked.”

When Boudreaux is not focusing on her art and marketing classes, she spends time involved with campus life. She is a member of the American Marketing Association and has served on the Nicholls orientation team. She is also a member of the Nicholls Players, where she will be serving as stage manager for the “Sweeney Todd the Barber” comedy production opening today.

“I really like Nicholls a whole lot,” Boudreaux said. “I’ve stayed here my entire four years and I’ve enjoyed my experience. I would encourage others to give Nicholls a try and stay here. It’s a great university, and I have no regrets.