The yellow academy has changed their academy name from E.T.D.A to S.T.E.A.M. The name changed from E.T.D.A. to S.T.E.A.M. because it is more known and it allows a broader perspective to the yellow academy fields. Rancho wants to reach out to students with a variety of interests.

“We needed to make Rancho more appealing and mainstream.” said Mr. Garcia.

S.T.E.M. has been a part of school programs for eight years now. There have been a few misunderstandings regarding artists who do not relate to the specific subjects of S.T.E.M. Many correlate S.T.E.M only for engineers, scientists, and mathematicians. However, this program is also created for the artists all around the world. Art often use technology sciences and the techniques for designing.

“Social Science, English, and Art have always been part of the academy…. It’s a matter of connecting the subjects together,” said Mr. Bezner, history teacher.

Some schools are S.T.E.M. focused. This leads to a larger amount of underrepresented artists worldwide. Mr. Bezner states that Rancho supports the arts very much and agrees that creative critical thinking skills are very helpful. Rancho provides advanced art courses like AP art. Mr. Bezner also said all artists are well included in this program.

“Rancho has a very successful team,” says Mrs. Kasuyama.

“They are very focused on what needs to be done and they communicate very well. The curriculum is structured so that it is tied in with the engineering aspects …art and engineering leaders create collaborative decisions in the curriculum.”

With great communication, subjects avoid clashing and devaluing each other. For instance, artists who are into sketching and animation might not focus as much on the sciences. Students would end up feeling under-represented if engineering and math were forced on them without any gateway to creativity.

Fortunately, Rancho has thought this problem through very well. Adding art is beneficial for expanding the variety of career paths in the school. Artists will continue to be represented in Rancho Dominguez