The Art of Summer

About 40 percent of CHS students take summer courses, but other students plan to take a different route to further their education over the summer, according to counselor Kris Hartman.

Sophomore Ethan McAndrews said he plans to spend his summer as one of the two student curators in the student-run position at the Carmel Arts Council’s Emerging Curator Program. During the summer, members of the program will display an exhibit in the Carmel Arts Council’s Children’s Art Gallery, showcasing artwork from the Cyber Art Show at CHS.

“Art is fun, but it’s not something that I’m really good at. I appreciate it, I don’t excel in it,” McAndrews said. “I think they picked me because I kind of offered something different. I’m not like someone that’s really involved in art. I kind of appreciate it, and I want to showcase all of this art that Carmel High School has to offer. And I was taking AP Art History.”

According to The Boston Globe, college admissions directors like to see students getting involved in an activity that matches their interest. So while a trip to Europe might be interesting, an activity in the community that showcases a student’s interest is a lot more valuable when applying for college. McAndrews said he went through the application process, which contained two essays and an interview, among seven others, because he said he was always interested in being a curator.

“I enjoy art, and I enjoy going to museums. If I wanted to explore going into that field, like the art field in the future, that’s something I’d want to know and have some experience to see if it’s for me,” McAndrews said. “That’s kind of the reason that I took this opportunity. I can discover what goes into it and what a curator does on a daily basis. I also wanted to see if I wanted to pursue a field in art in the future because I’ve been interested as a child. Going to museums, it was always just something that stuck out to me.”

The Cyber Art Show started on May 13. After looking through the artwork, McAndrews along with Ally Russell, student curator and junior, will create a theme and a title that goes along with the artwork they choose that sparks their interest. They then will invite the artists and other people to the opening of art gallery in early July.  McAndrews said that his role as a curator is a one-year role, but he hopes that he can gain experience and skills that he can use for the future, whether it be for a job or for college.

McAndrews said, “Hopefully I’ll just get some vital experience (to understand) what goes on and what goes into creating an exhibit. More just furthering the understanding of art and appreciating how you set this kind of stuff up. Through a summer activity, you can kind of expand your knowledge. Any experiences that you have can contribute to becoming a more well-rounded person. That’s just not with education, that’s with anything. Just having the experiences can contribute to it.”

The (Summer) Courses to Get Ahead

Many CHS students use the summer to get ahead in their schoolwork. These students take a class in the summer so they won’t have to take that class during the school year. Freshman Amit Kannan plans to take three summer courses, Health and PE II online and AP Macroeconomics at the school.

Kannan said, “I feel like I want to make the most use of my summer as I could. It also makes room for the school year because if you take the courses over the summer, you don’t have to take them in school. You then have more options of what you want to take during a school day.”

According to counselor Kris Hartman, CHS joined Indiana Online Academy (IOA) a few years ago. Since then, more people have signed up for summer courses, as they can take the class along with a class in CHS or they can take it if they’re on vacation. Kannan said online summer courses are a lot more flexible, and the courses at IOA are more relaxed because as long as the school work is finished, you won’t have to worry about the course as much.

Hartman said she agrees with Kannan that joining IOA was a good idea because of the increase in the percent of people taking a summer course.

“(Taking) summer courses is a way to complete some requirements, making more room for electives within your school year schedule.  Some students also choose to take a class over the summer to improve on a previous poor grade in a class,” Hartman said. “(We joined IOA) to be able to offer more classes to more students. Logistically, running summer school in-house was difficult, and if a class did not have a certain number of students enrolled, it was dropped from CHS Summer School.  IOA also allows students who have summer travel plans to still be able to take a summer class.”

Kannan said taking a summer course can help people get ahead of their peers and clear their schedule during the school year to take other classes. Summer school is also another way to retain the knowledge learned in school. Taking a summer class can enhance the information retained.

“I know that it’s going to take a lot of work, but it’ll pay off eventually,” Kannan said. “If you take classes in the summer, you won’t have to take it during the school year. That leaves you with a lot more classes to take. Plus, if you take classes during the summer, I feel like it’s a little bit less stressful since you don’t have other classes to bug you. Then during the school year, you can just worry and focus on those classes instead of also focusing on the classes you can just take during the summer.”