SCHOLARSHIP STORIES
KILEE SOFICH’S STORY
I've always had a love for all things creative, but never found an outlet I was passionate about. About a year after graduating with my bachelors, my mom encouraged me to take a little basic silversmithing class at my local rock shop. By the end of it, I knew wholeheartedly I wanted to continue! I dabbled for the next 3 years, learning and growing here and there.. While my life took many twists and turns, it was always something I loved going back to. In July of 2024, I resigned from my teaching position and decided to pursue it full time. It has been the biggest blessing that continues to remind me to trust God daily.
After talking with some friends who have experience engraving, I was encouraged to take the Bright Cut class through GRS. They assured me that GRS could offer me the best opportunity to grow and learn and that this class was what I was looking for as far as the skills I wanted to learn. It all fell into place about 3 weeks before the class was set to be and while teetering on last minute, I couldn't be more thankful for the opportunity.
GRS provided a 5 day course that ran 8 hours a day. Diane went over the 4 basic bright cuts as we implemented them into scrolls, patterns, and at the end we got to walk away with a cuff we created and designed ourselves. She taught us how to sharpen our tools, talked about resources, creating our own style, and was very encouraging through the process.
Before the class I had never touched an engraving machine, so I had a lot of takeaways. However, I found that showing consistent work requires being consistent, determined, and willing to put in the work.
As someone who tends to be naturally good at things, bright cut engraving was a challenge for me. I remember on day 3 feeling so frustrated because it isn't just learning how to use the tools, but also learning how to sharpen them correctly, which is so much more important than I could have imagined. I remember when Diane was making rounds and when she got to me she jokingly asked me if I was praying or bored (most definitely praying.) I admitted that I was fighting with my head and I asked her if she felt like bright cut engraving is something anyone could do or if it was only for some. She reminded me that it took her 6 years to figure out what she is trying to instill in us in 5 days, during a time when it was still a man's world and everyone told her she couldn't do it. She shared that everyone telling her she couldn't, made her want to do it even more and that if I wanted it bad enough then I could do it.
In the next few years I see myself adding engraving to a big chunk of my work. I envision myself creating my own style, becoming consistent in my quality, and being able to expand my abilities. I love that this experience was able to add a tool to my belt that I will utilize so often.
I am beyond grateful for the opportunity I was given. I can confidently say that without this scholarship, I wouldn't have gone to GRS and gained this experience. When I was struggling to get the hang of things and began to doubt myself, I remembered that I have a community of people that believe in me. People that saw my vision and were willing to help make it come true and support me through every step. For that, I couldn't be more grateful. I will never forget how perfectly everything fell into place and the doors that this scholarship has opened for me.
I’m looking forward to staying involved with The Rodear community and sharing my progress in the months ahead.
The last thing I would like to share is Just how grateful I am that everyone was willing to take a chance on me and my dream. I can't wait to see this dream grow and evolve because of this opportunity.
