As parents, we constantly think about how to prepare our children for a rapidly changing world. We prioritize academics, spiritual nurturing and extracurricular opportunities to raise a well rounded student, and as Fine Arts Director and music teacher, I see firsthand every day how music, theater, dance, and the visual arts transform our students. The arts build emotional resilience and grit as they try new things and learn that failure is not a dead end but rather a step in the creative process. The fine arts classroom gives students a healthy outlet to express complex emotions that they might not yet have the words to speak aloud. Whether they are releasing tension through a powerful dance routine or finding focus while shaping a piece of pottery or creating through music, the arts provide an outlet for expression and belonging. I was reminded of this at our recent show during backstage circle time as students shared about how being in the show gave them greater friendship, confidence to try something new and a sense of belonging and as they joined arms and worshiped together before they took the stage.
I am grateful for my role and the opportunity I get to help students learn how to collaborate and work together in meaningful ways that will impact and shape their lives for the future. The arts are not just hobbies or extracurricular resume-builders. They are fundamental tools that shape a child’s character, mind, and emotional resilience.
I also watch students from year to year and am amazed with their growth, confidence, and ability to try and achieve new things. Last year we celebrated a handful of students I had the privilege of teaching in elementary school. I vividly remember seeing their faces sitting in class rows as they played percussion and glockenspiels, sang, and soaked it all in with the eagerness of an elementary student learner. Fast forward several years and I found myself working with those same students in a very different setting as they were seniors leading our chapel band. It was so rewarding to see how far they had come. The once shy, nervous, and hesitant child was now leading confidently as a musician, vocalist, and actor.
Every time you attend a school play, sit in the audience of a band concert, or walk through a student art gallery, you are validating your child’s hard work and personal growth.Thank you for encouraging your children to learn an instrument, step onto a stage, or pick up a paintbrush. Together, we aren’t just teaching them how to make beautiful things—we are shaping beautiful, well-rounded lives.
With the changing season happening all around us, I have also been reminded of the seasons of childhood. As a parent, my own children have begun entering their teen years and middle school ages. I have become increasingly aware of the need for a “village” and other voices to pour into them. I have found myself overwhelmed with the blessing of having those voices here at FRCS in every arena on the field, stage, and classroom. I know my kids are being loved, seen, shaped and guided in ways I could never achieve in the parenting realm alone, and that makes me forever grateful.
