Belleville College Student Embraces Art, Earns Scholarship

BELLEVILLE, NJ —When Noemi Mangual-Rosa enrolled at Essex County College in 2014, she began as a biology and pre-medicine major. But it didn't take the Belleville resident long to reconsider.

"I realized that biology was not my cup of tea,” she admitted to a reporter.

So Mangual-Rosa, 24, decided to major in something that she has enjoyed since seventh grade: art.

“Of course, that was after some soul searching… I wasn’t sure of what career path to take,” Mangual-Rosa added.

A self-described late bloomer and "nomad," Mangual-Rosa is now on schedule to graduate from Essex with an Associate in Art this May. She will then transfer to Rutgers University-Newark and major in art education… buoyed by a $12,000 a year scholarship, Essex County College officials said.

"Art has been a part of my life for a very long time," said Noemi, who was born in Puerto Rico, grew up in Newark and graduated Newark's Arts High School.

Name the medium and Mangual-Rosa has probably done it, from ink to water color to gouache, a method using opaque pigment. She also does ceramics with some photography thrown in for good measure.

"Really, any medium is fair game,” she said.

She’s also got a taste for passing on the love for art to the younger generation; after class, the artist finds time to teach art to pre-kindergarten children at a private school in Montclair.

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Photo: Essex County College

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