This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Arts Program at Paul Ecke Central Nominated for SD County's Artissimo Award

Katie Scherer and PEC ALIVE (Art Literacy Inspiring Volunteer Educators) is being nominated for the SD County Office of Education's Artissimo Community Star Award.

Katie Scherer became a volunteer art teacher when her first daughter started kindergarten in 1995 at Paul Ecke Central (PEC) in Encinitas, CA. 

As a recent gallery owner with an art history major, Katie had a desire to offer the children more than basic art skills of cutting, gluing and simple crafts.   She began to offer the students in her daughter’s class more sophisticated art lessons, which were quickly recognized by the principal and other parent volunteers.  With their collaborated efforts, Katie led the team and created PEC ALIVE (Art Literacy Inspiring Volunteer Educators).  The program provides a formal art program with weekly art lessons, written by Ms. Sherer, aligned with the California Visual Art standards.  Each year, approximately 50 parent volunteers teach the weekly lesson plans to all of the PEC students.   The lessons appeal to our young students by introducing them to artists, learning to go through the process of making art, and designing a finished product that is attractive and has meaning.  Katie always stresses the importance of reflection, and as such the PEC ALIVE program incorporated reflection to empower students to change their worlds through art.  While Katie’s children have already graduated from PEC, she continues to support our art literacy program by teaching monthly art trainings for our parent volunteers in every grade level.  Her guidance offers the parents information on how to read to and interact with students through books, video, music, food and art samples.  Although we measure the success primarily through the levels of student engagement and art principles learned, we often hear anecdotal stories from parents about how the PEC ALIVE program has influenced their children.  The following quote is one of many examples of parent feedback we have received over the years:

 

Find out what's happening in Encinitaswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“My PEC alumni as well as my current PEC student have some of the most sophisticated art knowledge of any of their non-PEC peers. Middle school and high school art teachers know exactly who the PEC students are as they are the students who can discuss art concepts, artists, and practice a plethora of art techniques with ease.” –Tracy Mueller, PEC Parent

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?