While Frederick High School isn’t technically an arts school, it is a school that loves art. Frederick offers over 15 art classes throughout all grades.

Art is the outlet for the mind, a therapeutic way for students to learn lessons, especially through trial and error. Helping them find their sense. In the United States, 5,041 public schools do not offer art courses. This is 8% of all students, which is equal to over 2 million students! (Artseddata) 

Mrs. Basche, her 4th year teaching gave a list of how art can be beneficial: 

• Art is therapeutic – students can decompress

• Art allows an outlet for creativity 

• Art teaches students to creatively problem solve.

• Art builds confidence through trial + error

Samantha Fur, a senior at Frederick high school who’s taken photography, graphic design and drawing classes gave a piece of mind on the art industry and classes here at Frederick. 

For her, photography has benefitted her the most, in her words, “It has helped me see beauty in the world around me.” And helped her see things “more open mindedly on different things”. Sam sees art classes as a good learning experience for student bodies because as she says, “we’re taught to be factories and not people. And I think art classes really teach us to BE people”

Sam’s favorite project was an album design cover in Graphic design 

Molina Damarys, a junior at Frederick high school who’s taken drawing, advanced drawing and painting, 2d design and art appreciation. 

She sees her art classes as a way to “ really calm down” and “have time to be with myself” . She explains it as a cycle, “going to school, doing the school work, going home, doing the schoolwork again, along with all my other stuff” Molina sees art classes as a way for students to “relax and not really stress about other classes or outside worries.” 

Molina’s favorite art project was a collage from 2D design. It gave her freedom to make whatever she wanted and to express herself 

Andrew Cathner, a sophomore at Frederick High School, has taken art foundation, beginning drawing, and graphs. He says for him, his art classes help him be “more creative”. But for student bodies, he says they CAN be beneficial, but it depends on how students use the resource. 

Andrew’s favorite project was a contour line drawing that he participated in beginning drawing. He said it “gave me some freedom” and “we got to do whatever we wanted for it.” 

Evan Ishmael, a freshman here at Frederick Highschool who’s currently taking his first art class at the school, beginning drawing. Evan says art class helps him “escape from stress and feeling very overwhelmed from work.” He says it’s almost like therapy. And for the students around him, he believes it’s a similar case. As early as it is in the year, Evan has really enjoyed having freedom in his sketches and work. 

Going through the art teachers at Frederick High School, I interviewed Mrs. Kerr. Mrs Kerr has taught at Frederick for 4 years, but 11 years in total. She’s taught ceramics, intermediate ceramics, and multiple drawing classes. She expressed that art classes are such a great way for students to be able to “express themselves.” Along with there being no right or wrong answers. “Giving everyone a creative expression they can bring to the table”

Out of all the projects she’s done with classes, her favorite was an empty bowls fundraiser for the local food pantry. This was her favorite because it gave students an outlet to include their culture in their art. It gave students the chance to “really dig into their culture and ancestry”

While FHS is not labeled as an art school, having art classes available for students to take is beneficial to their learning and growth.