A Positive School Experience

Today, our teacher gave us the assignment to create a blog for this website. The prompt was to talk about a positive school experience. There are several classes that were interesting, like US History, or Chemistry. AP Environmental Science and AP Psychology were awesome as well. I learned a lot about our government and how to be a responsible citizen in Civics and Economics. But I am going to focus this blog on a class that I am taking this year. I have always been an artistic person, but I have really been able to express my creativity through my Crafts II class. 

As a freshman in high school, I took Art I because it was a required course. I loved it, and I wanted to take more art classes throughout my high school career. Instead, I decided to focus on my GPA. Most of the art classes were standard, and there were other classes that I could take that would give me a higher GPA. So for the next two years, I did not take any art classes. But my senior year, I decided to take Crafts II. It might have been the best class choice for my senior schedule. Not because it is easy, because if you don't work hard enough, you won't get a good grade. But because it is a way to express myself. It is the bridge to my creativity, a window to relaxation. The stress of school, work, oncoming college, etc. can easily be overwhelming. With one art class in my schedule, I can relax. For one period of the day, I do not have to worry about anything else other than my art. All I have to do is put all of my thought into the artwork. By focusing on creating an amazing piece of artwork, whether it be with clay, wood, stone, wire, or paper; I can drown out all other distractions. I think that it really shows in my art. My level of persistence, detail, and focus shows. It really is a way to destress. 

While I was working on a wood sculpture project, another art teacher came into our room to take the supply cart to her room for the next class(the bell was about to ring). I was still working on my project and did not notice her, or that the class time was almost up. She said, "Honey...". I looked up and I came back to reality. I looked at the clock, and slightly embarrassed, I said, "Sorry. I lost track of time." I thought she was going to be irritated because I was holding her up, but instead she smiled and said, "Oh no, it is okay. We like it when our students get into their artwork." That is when I realized how important this class was to me. By focusing on a piece, by pouring all of my effort into it, I was able to not worry about all of the stress and turmoil in my life. 

Crafts II has been an awesome way to express my creativity. Plus, I get awesome pieces of artwork to give to my mom. I am super thankful for my art teacher, Mr. Valenti for pushing me to create the best artwork that I can. I have learned that with art, there is always something more you can do. There is always one more step that you can take. Creating art is like life, there is always something more you can do. But whether you take that extra step to improve your life is up to you.