Charter school works to expand art offerings

By: STACY BRANDT - Staff Writer | Friday, May 18, 2007 10:14 PM PDT ∞

VISTA -- When Beth Premo started working at Guajome Academy more than a decade ago, she was the only art teacher at the fledgling charter school. Now, Premo is one of 11 educators there working to expand the campus's art program.

This year, the school will, for the first time, have a band, choir, drum line, musical theater group and dance troop. That's a big change from the one six-week general art class Premo taught for middle schoolers at the sixth- through 12th-grade campus her first couple of years.

"This is our very first year with musical instruments other than guitar," said Premo, who is one of two teachers heading up the school's art department.

As enrollment grows and brings with it more state money, the Vista Unified School District charter campus has been able to offer a larger variety of art classes.

Meanwhile, enrollment at Guajome has gone from 550 students in 1994 to nearly 1,500 this school year.

The school hopes to continue to expand artistic offerings, especially when it comes to visual arts and music, said Kathy Hamamoto, the other teacher in charge of the art department.

"It's in its infancy," she said. "We're just starting."

However, as enrollment grows, space becomes more of an issue, she said.

"We're still trying to find ways to cram everything into the space we have," she said.

The art programs are particularly important at Guajome, as part of the International Baccalaureate program, which stresses teaching students to be well-rounded by focusing on art, foreign language and understanding other cultures.

Alisha Ochoa, a senior at the school who has been dancing since she was 3 years old, said she jumped at the opportunity to take an after-school dance class that started this year.

Ochoa, who has attended Guajome since sixth grade, said she has seen the number of art offerings slowly grow over the last six years, especially this year.

"In my senior year, it was just an explosion of art," she said. "I think it's really great that Guajome is finally making their arts department grow in such a vast way."

As the number of students involved in elective arts classes has grown over the last couple of years, so has the school's arts festival, which was held Friday night.

The festival started out three years ago with just one teacher showing off her students' work as part of the school's Artists in Residence program and has grown to include nearly the entire school. The Artists in Residents program started at the school three years ago, bringing working artists into the classroom to help teach students about different art media.

Giving the students a chance to display their work helps to motivate them to challenge themselves and encourage other students to enroll in art classes, Premo said.

"They feel so good that it's up there," she said. "It really gives them a boost for their self esteem."

-- Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 631-6622 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.

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