Art Students Take Opportunity to Work with Real Artists

The new art program lead by Mrs. Panagiotis, offered to her art class are for students interested in the field of art. The experience allows students that are undecided to get a glimpse of the art field, as well as take a dip in it. In an overview, the program spans across the months of November, January, February, and March and involves the collaboration of Rancho Dominguez and the Cal State Dominguez Hills art department. In each month, ten students are selected from Mrs. Panagiotis’ first period art class to go to the university every Wednesday and work with an actual artist on a cooperative assignment. Once all the students have worked with their artist on a project, there will be a final meet-up amongst the entirety of the class to have a discussion on what was accomplished.

“I think there are many benefits, because students who really want to strive to be an artist can use the experience they gained later on in the future to help,” said senior Nilo Reynoso.

Although there are students uninterested in the art field, the program has already received positive feedback from the students who have gone.

“My experience at Cal State Dominguez was intriguing, because I discovered a new foundation on how to formulate ideas on what you can draw and how to perfect it,” said Jenicah Baquir who was amongst the first students to be selected.

Another issue students are skeptical about, that should be put to rest, is that they will be missing school. While the trip will cause the absence of the first three periods, it is only once a week for an extremely educational cause. Mrs. Panagiotis also personally speaks to the teachers of every student involved to advise of the positive results. After hearing about the trip, the teachers are supportive of it and allow the students to go.

“Students will be missing only four class meetings and that is the extent of it, so it’s anything but any kind of fallback,” said Mrs. Panagiotis.