Friday, December 18, 2009

The place of the Arts at Southwest

For some other reasons, I counted the number of students in Fine Arts classes at Southwest. That is an amazing number by itself (999) and then attempted to add in the extra-curricular events that draw students not directly involved in classes and that was around 73.

With this rough estimate of the 1,700 students enrolled at Southwest, over 1,000 (1,072) are involved in Fine Arts through curricular classes or extra curricular activities. That is a very interesting number.

The Arts bring people together of various backgrounds and interests. Because of the scope of the program there is a place for everyone. No interest, ability or talent is not needed. Students find a common bond through the arts and reason to be engaged in the school and its community.

Even though the number is large and a huge percentage of the total enrollment I believe it does not capture the real number and definitely does not convey the power of the Fine Arts to define a school and its relationship to its students, family and community.

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