“RM has an amazing arts program,” freshman Anjali Natarajan said, after discovering all of the unique classes RM offers students. Although RM has a great variety of classes–ceramics, three levels of chorus, band and orchestra–there’s always room for improvement.
“I’m truly honored to be attending a school with such artistically talented students,” Natarajan explained. “Everyone has a chance to showcase their expertise in terms of singing, instrumental music, photography, etc. Adding a dancing class would definitely bring out a lot of artists in our community.”
For the many dancers present at RM, students juniors Rebecca Jang and Layali Al-Jirafi have created the RMHS Dance Club. The club usually performs at school events with hip-hop based choreography.
“Dancing reaches people in a different way; it’s emotional, it’s exciting, it’s eccentric,” said junior Rebecca Jang. “Dance class as an art elective could help students to consider art more broadly – art isn’t limited only to the production of something tangible. A dance class will not only teach students about dance as an art form but it can enlighten students on the impact dance can have on their lives.”
Jang’s opinion on dance is a unanimous thought process that every dancer believes in. Her passion for dance led to the creation of a club with more than 30 members, allowing other people to express their passion for dance.
Another class that was mentioned by several students was an animation class. Natarajan, who took Media Productions for the past three years, mentioned how much she enjoyed creating short films. “We had an assignment to create a documentary,” she mentioned. “We had to use our creative and artistic skills to create a professional looking short film. Honestly, I can’t help but think as to how taking a class beforehand could have improved the final product.”
Senior Heather Konan, who currently takes a film class here at RM, mentioned a class that ties film design and art into a single class. “Essentially, it would be learning how to create motion pictures with drawings,” Konan said. “I feel like a lot of students would genuinely be interested in this class since it also has several career prospects.”
Other students mentioned a musical theater class, for students who wanted to act and sing at the same time. “Although we already have a theater class, a musical theater class would be for students who mainly want to sing and dance while playing out their parts,” said freshman Alexis Cheng. As a member of a theater troupe outside of school, she was hoping she would be able to join a musical theater class at RM. “I’ve always enjoyed watching musicals as a child, and it would mean everything for me if I could actually be a part of a musical.”
This year’s musical at RM is Little Mermaid, with lots of fun and interactive songs such as “Under the Sea”. By adding a musical theater class, not only will the students be able to perform and showcase their talents, however, they will also be able to earn credits and learn the art on a more educational basis. Upon mentioning this idea, Cheng said, saying, “People would tend to put more effort and dedication if musical theater were an actual class, compared to an extracurricular activity.”
The different classes that were mentioned were a reflection of the students’ interests and hobbies, however, these students were only a small population of all the students at RM. This shows the variety of artistic talents that are present in the students and how by adding these classes, we can encourage these talents and make RM an artistically diverse school.
Featured graphics by Caroline Dinh
