OXFORD – Since the time she could hold a pencil, Brooke Tobey says becoming an artist was simply her destiny.

Growing up in a household where art was always supported, Tobey says finding her talent and working to perfect it was always encouraged.

As a sophomore in high school, Tobey said she knew she had a love for art but was unsure of her medium. After being inspired by her high school art teacher Deborah Crossman, she become a painter. Her favorite thing to paint is food, and even when she cooks, she envisions how to make the food she is working with look like art.

Tobey was awarded for her artistic as well as her academic ability throughout her high school years. By the time she was ready to graduate, she was a fine arts portfolio winner, had won first and second in the Congressional Artistic Discovery competition, was named Who’s Who among high school students, was named chairman of the school winter social event, was voted 2006 homecoming queen, and won two scholarships plus several other awards for artistic excellence.