How Snap Lens Lab Made a Creative Impact on Otis College First-Year Student Sheela Cortes
The three-week, pre-college program helped Cortes make the leap from landscape watercolors to 3D animation tools.
Snap Lens Lab @ Otis College is a free, pre-college program during which high school students create dynamic augmented reality (AR) experiences for Snapchatters around the world. During the three-week program—which this year runs from Monday, July 13–Friday, July 31, 2026—students learn the ins and outs of Snap Inc.’s Lens Studio, a powerful application designed for artists and developers to build AR experiences for users. By the end of the program, students will have learned how to harness AR into their own 2D and 3D art using a toolkit that also includes Maya, Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop.
This summer, Snap Lens Lab will provide 15 scholarships to eligible Los Angeles County high school students. This will cover each student’s full participation in the program, which is designed to provide high school youth from underserved communities with access and insight into meaningful career opportunities that may have been otherwise inaccessible to them.
Register to attend one of two upcoming virtual Snap Lens Lab @ Otis College information sessions on Wednesday, April 15, 6:00–7:15 pm, or Thursday, April 30, 2026, 6:00–7:15 pm.
Sheela Cortez, a current first-year student planning to study Animation at Otis College, attended Snap Lens Lab when she was in high school. It was an enriching experience that influenced her decision to pursue an art and design education at Otis. Cortes shares more about her experiences below.
A New Flex
Before Snap Lens Lab, Cortes mostly created dream-like watercolor landscapes, sometimes combined with human anatomy and other nature scenes. She was inspired to attend the decidedly different Snap Lens Lab to get some exposure to 3D animation and learn new software. “I also thought it would be interesting to connect with others at Snapchat and see the behind-the-scenes process of creating lens filters,” she says.
What she was not prepared for, however, was going through critique sessions, a mainstay of an Otis College education, no matter the venue. “I wasn’t used to speaking publicly about my work,” Cortes says. “The critique sessions helped me narrow down my ideas and develop them further towards a final project. It also gave me a new way to connect with my peers, which I found memorable and enjoyable.”
Cortes decided to attend Otis College as a BFA student because Snap Lens Lab showed her how impactful it was to be surrounded by creative people. “It helped me flourish and grow as an artist and person,” she says, adding that she was influenced by the many resources Otis offers students and its interdisciplinary curriculum: “I liked that there were so many possibilities for students to pursue, even outside their major.”
While learning 3D and other software during Snap Lens Lab was difficult for her, Cortes also found it fascinating and ultimately rewarding. She returned to Otis for the Summer of Art pre-college program and, eventually, Otis. “I want to further my practice in 3D modeling,” she says, “and to study Animation.”
About Snap Lens Lab
Snap Lens Lab @ Otis College is open to high school students in Los Angeles County with no prior experience required in the design and tech tools used throughout the program. Participants are taught by instructors from Otis Extension, the Game and Entertainment Design and Animation BFA programs, as well as members of the Snap team, who also mentor students in all aspects of Lens Studio. The program includes guest speakers from the design community and the Snapchat team, as well as field trips to museum exhibitions throughout Los Angeles that explore aspects of AR production, storytelling, design process, and 2D and 3D art. The pre-college program culminates in a final exhibition of students’ work.
More information and Snap Lens Lab application.
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