Career guidance continuum.

CAREER guidance continuum

WHY WAIT UNTIL HIGH SCHOOL TO guide a student towards a career in art? Isn't it true that while very young a child will want to become a cowboy, fireman, nurse, teacher and so forth? So why not, at that age, plant the "seed" and nurture a career in art?

With that growth in mind, over the past couple of years we've been sending a group of seven or eight of our high school seniors to different elementary schools for an "Art Demonstration Day." This year we presented a "hands on" show where the grade school children helped with the production of the artwork.

What a delight as eager little hands helped shape clay on a potter's wheel or rasped out the gouge marks on a wood sculpture! And smiles abounded as small fingers guided a weaving needle through a tapestry loom, dabbed oil paint on a gessoed board, or enthusiastically cut pieces of stained glass for a window design. As one fourth grader wrote in a thank you note, "It gave us some ideas about what we might be doing when we get bigger." Another echoed the same thought, "We will like to do those things when we get older." Adding, "We hope you come back as soon as possible."

While the classroom teachers and their students were fascinated with the things said and done, we feel it's important to cultivate that interest when the children get home. To this end, we've been trying to raise the parents' awareness of art. Because we feel that this can best be accomplished through exhibiting, our staff actively searches for places to show off our students' efforts, rather than wait for them to come our way. We have hung exhibits at a local bank, a shopping center, the community arts festival and, monthly, at our public library--all this to keep art before the parents' eyes.

For the past few years, we have sponsored a two-day "Artists at Work" exhibit at a local shopping mall. It's similar in content to the workshop at the elementary level but involves more of our high school students demonstrating a wider variety of techniques in different media. (Worth mentioning: Whenever any of our high school students or their work is involved in an exhibit of any kind, we're quick to send out notices to their parents alerting them to their child's participation.)

Although art might be a budding attraction for elementary students, it meets with competition in junior high school or middle school. Band, vocational shops and all types of electives vie with art for the students' interest. Several years ago, we instituted a visitation program to the junior highs. We take a high school senior, some actual student artwork and slides of what we can't easily carry, as well as resources on the various careers in the arts. We show and describe what can be expected at the senior high level and beyond. This effort seems to be working. Our art department is flourishing in course offerings, in students and in staff despite the fact that our school district is experiencing a decline in school population.

Working with our own high school students towards a career in art can be challenging. Due to many good experiences, they know they like art, but don't know what they could become, where to go or how to get financial aid. Therefore, we try to keep a catalog from every art academy, college and university, and make available information on grants, loans and scholarships. We urge our students, while still sophomores and juniors, to write to the art schools for information and not to wait until the senior year.

Perhaps the best thing we've done to guide our students in a specific career direction was to put together an Art Career Guide. This nineteen-page booklet describes fifty-two art related careers from advertising designer and architect to weaver and woodworker. Included are such diverse fields as environmental design, glass-blowing, photo-journalism and typography. We cover them all, detailing such things as the personal qualities needed and the expectations on the job. The Guide was gathered from various sources, printed in the school print shop (giving it an important look) and made available to interested students.

Students seem to remain interested. About one-third to one-fourth of our art students pursue a career in art after graduation and, for the fifth straight year now, at least one of the students has gone on to be an art teacher. As impressive as statistics might be, what actually convinces us that we have a thriving art career program are the happy eyes on our grade school "helpers," the excited look or our junior high hosts, and the confident air that surrounds our own senior art graduates.

PHOTO : Johnstown High School senior Stephanie Lill demonstrates papermaking for elementary school

PHOTO : students.

PHOTO : Latchhook rug-making demonstration.

PHOTO : Middle school students view pottery and screen printing processes.