Art is an Escape by Caramel

Art is an Escape by Caramel - September 2023 Scholarship Essay

If I had the authority to change my school in a positive way I would give more funding to the arts program. My school is very STEM-focused and academically rigorous. This leads to our school usually being in the top ranks nationally for high schools. However, there is an insane amount of stress put atop the shoulders of students. We are required to only take AP classes and tests and honors classes. Students have 4-5 hours of homework daily from classes. The type of environment fostered is one where getting good grades is of utmost importance and everything else is second rate. Students will study for hours in order to achieve top grades and to compete with each other. Not to mention that parents often talk and compare students to one another and because of how small our high school, graduating class this year is sixty-two seniors, most parents know each other and feed into each other’s high expectations for their children. For these reasons, Art and music are so important for students to have as classes and clubs. The school requires that students take at least one year of fine arts due to state requirements but without state requirements, the enforcement would surely be rid of. Art is an escape for students and is an outlet for creativity that subjects like physics and economics would not be able to provide. For many the fine arts are a coping mechanism for the stressful daily school life they experience.

I am the secretary for the National Art Honor Society and over the years I have seen how much good our club has done for students in and outside the club. We have created Thanksgiving grams that students could give to each other, we made a haunted house one year for the primary school to enjoy, and we had a massive art show where we raised over $ 2,000 for teacher funds. These are just some of the things we have done and as a club, we strive to help people in our community with our art since art can be enjoyed by anybody. Starting this year, however, there have been some changes that our new art teacher and school administration have been trying to enforce that had never been there before. There are now going to be grade requirements, strict limits to amounts of members we can allow to join the club, and a limit on the amount of projects we can do. We won't be able to do most of the projects we do as an art society due to the budget. NAHS is so much more than just a regular club. Students join NAHS in order to find like-minded students who have a passion for art and to be in an environment that fosters this talent. Without the budget to get the opportunities that students deserve, the club will not live up to its fullest potential. Funding for art is important to the mental well-being of students who use art as an escape, to creating a close-knit community of artists who can use their art to help others, and to make the school a more bright and colorful place that inspires students to focus not only academics but fine arts.