Vanessa VanDerveer
Elementary Art Educator, Union County Public Schools
Education: BFA in Art, with a concentration in Art Education and Painting, UNC Charlotte (2024)
BSBA in Business Administration and Law with a Minor in Criminal Justice, Western Carolina University (2019)
Hometown: Indian Trail, NC
Although Vanessa VanDerveer had been an artist since childhood and active in the art clubs in her middle and high schools, she first decided to pursue another path in college. Preparing to become a paralegal, she attended Western Carolina University and graduated in 2019 with a BSBA in Business Administration and Law and a Minor in Criminal Justice.
“Shortly after graduating though, I knew that I would never be truly happy if I wasn’t doing art in some way,” she says. “I went back to school at UNC Charlotte to pursue a career in art education and I never looked back!”
Now Vanessa is a successful art teacher at Rock Rest Elementary in Union County – so successful, in fact, that she recently was named 2026 “Rookie Art Educator of the Year” by the North Carolina Art Educators Association.
“My work in the art education program prepared me for this job in such a profound way,” Vanessa says. “The team of professors taught us tricks of the teaching trade of course, but what made the program special is that they treated us like professionals from the start. I felt prepared for the reality of teaching and also felt supported and encouraged to take my skills beyond the classroom in a very short time after graduation.”
Among her favorite experiences as an art student was a summer travel program.
“Professors Jane Dalton and Aspen Hochhalter took a group of students to the Burren College of Art in Ireland, and I was fortunate enough to be a part of that trip. ”
In addition to teaching, Vanessa has begun to write grants and to create professional development opportunities for art educators.
“These have been some of my favorite projects because they allow me to build my classroom up, but also allow me to extend my work outside of the classroom,” she says. “There is a level of excitement that comes from putting your ideas out there, and working in these spaces has allowed me to get excited about my ideas, share them with other professionals in my field, and collaborate with peers on how to make ideas work even if a grant doesn’t come through.”
Vanessa’s courage to follow her heart as an artist is the source of her advice for current students:
“It might sound cliched, but you have to trust yourself! Artists must learn this skill in order to find their path. You know what you want deep down, and you must chase it.”