February/March 2019 67
be graphic designer, but their parents are
saying, we’re only paying for college if you
become a civil engineer, the student’s trajectory
and the paths they take throughout
school are directly impacted.”
But arts advocates in these private schools
don’t see things as a zero-sum game. At the
lower school at Rossinca-Carden International
STEAM Academy in San Jose,
Head of School Sujata Desai emphasizes the
need to develop both the left side and the
right side—the logical and creative hemispheres—
of the brain in tandem.
“It should be something that’s in partnership
to work together,” she says, referencing
Steve Jobs’ success in Silicon Valley
as a synthesis of creative and artistic design
in concert with the hard science and
tech behind his products. In each of the
school’s classrooms, art-based projects tie
into what’s being studied within the core
academic subjects.
“Different pursuits speak to different
students,” says Jill Huchital, a Harker parent whose daughter is
a senior in Harker’s conservatory program and a musical theater
certificate candidate. She doesn’t see the arts in opposition to other
offerings, contrasting her daughter’s experience with her son’s at
Harker. “It was wonderful for him to have robotics and programming
clubs and all of those things because that’s where his heart lies.”
On these campuses, high schoolers choose classes and extracurriculars
in an environment that doesn’t tell them to delineate
between singular lanes.
“There is no ‘theater kid,’” says Lang-Ree, referencing Andy
Fang, the co-founder of DoorDash, who went to Stanford for computer
science, but performed in musicals while attending Harker.
“We have 100 kids in the orchestra. That’s just crazy. And they’re
everything you can imagine: they’re STEM; they are debate; they
are robotics; they are athletes.”
As for college admissions, even if students are not considering
pursuing arts beyond high school, those involved are often fostering
what school administrators consistently echo as the crucial
factor of “passion.”
“I always say to parents and kids first, and very directly, do not do
this because you want it to look good on your college application,”
Lang-Ree says. “That being said, if this is your thing and who you
are and where you can shine and excel, that’s
what you want to show any college. And any
college will be dying to have that child.”
Beyond the multitude of developmental
benefits for young learners, the arts fundamentally
matter the most for students
simply because of the love and the sense
of identity and community found in them.
“Their participation in the arts, I think,
is a stress release for a lot of these kids,
rather than a stress inducer,” Santana says.
“Because for so many of them, this is what
maybe gets them out of bed on some days.”
Students like Jinh-Hee Lee, at Mitty agree.
Amid senior-year college applications, her
days are filled with five AP courses.
“But being in those classes and knowing
that after school I get to go on stage and
perform with my best friends and with my
amazing director,” Lee says, “I’ll be like,
I just got to hold on and I can just go to
choir and have some fun.” n
FROM TOP: MARK KOCINA; RUTH PHILLIPS TEITELBAUM; OPPOSITE
FROM TOP: JOANN SCHILB; STILL LIGHT STUDIOS
Harker School’s
Varsity Dance
Troupe rehearses.
Pre-K student
in art class
at Rossinca-
Carden
International
STEAM
Academy