The Revere High School art program will introduce two new art classes, Watercolor and Cartooning, for the 2017-2018 school year.

Jennifer Seegert, an art instructor at Revere High School, explained how these specific classes were chosen.

“Mrs. Fox, Mr. Pierson and I came up with ideas for four possible classes. The four classes we were considering were Watercolor, Cartooning, Collage, and Jewelry Design. We were advised that we could offer two new classes next year and then maybe phase in some more later. Then we all polled our current art classes and asked our students which two classes they would be most interested in taking. The winning classes were Watercolor and Cartooning,” Seegert said.

Sandra Fox, the Revere High School art department chairperson, who was also involved in deciding the classes, went into further depth describing the classes.

“The two [classes] that won were Cartooning, and we found that there is a need for that because students are into anime, but there are so many other things that you can do with it that we thought that might be a good class that students might be interested in. The other class that won was Watercolor, but the collage class was a close third, so we thought within Watercolor, we can also incorporate collage with your background like book pages and things like that, so we can bring in some different things to those. . . . For us as a department, it will be nice because most of the other classes are two trimesters, but these are just one trimester classes, so now Elements of Art A, Watercolor, and Cartooning are all one trimester,” Fox said.

Nick DePompei, a guidance counselor at Revere High School, outlined how a new class starts, and how they choose a teacher to teach the class.

“[Classes] are proposed by the teachers to the Principal, and they go through the process of approval all the way up to the Board of Education . . . . Teachers are chosen depending on certifications that dictates who can teach what. Typically multiple teachers can, so it comes down to where the class best fits for students and what teacher is available,” DePompei said.

Seegert elaborated on the process of starting a new class, and who she needed to talk to in order to start a new class.

“First, we needed to talk to Mr. King to get permission and explain why we thought a new class was a good idea. In this case, we talked to the Guidance Department also because we wanted their opinion on whether or not offering some new one-trimester only classes would help with scheduling. Once we got permission to introduce new classes, we just brainstormed within our department on how to decide which classes to offer and to get some ideas for possible projects. Once we get the schedule for next year we will see which teachers will be teaching the courses, and they will collaborate on what is taught in each class,” Seegert said.

Fox discussed the content and setup of the new classes.

“We are going to write the classes this summer because we know what we want to teach, but we haven’t set the exact curriculum. It will also depend on who is teaching them when they make up the schedule. That is the person that will write the class. We will all collaborate, but whoever is the one who is going to teach it will teach it the way they want to because we all teach the same thing, but we all have our own style,” Fox said.

Seegert explained the requirements of the classes and why students should take these classes.

“One of the great things that happened when we were discussing new classes is that we decided to merge both Elements of Art A and Elements of Art B into one class. Up until now, students were required to take both 12-week classes in order to move into more specialized studies. As of next year, only Elements of Art A will be required for all other areas, including Watercolor and Cartooning. So, anyone who has completed Elements of Art A will be able to sign up for Watercolor or Cartooning . . . . I think students should be excited to take Watercolor and Cartooning because these are things that we do not have the opportunity to spend much time on in the classes already offered. They’ll be learning some really great skills and techniques that they will be able to do in other classes and on their own,” Seegert said.

The classes will be available to students next year. Interested students can sign up for one or both of these classes if interested when scheduling classes for next year.