This year at Oakdale High School, the Art Club is coming back with a few changes.  The club is excited to announce that Maggie George, who works with visual and performing arts, is the new advisor of this club, with Jocelyn Todd, junior, serving as President. 

George has been interested in art for as long as she can remember: “Even as a kid, I was constantly coloring, drawing, painting, or doing fun crafts with my mom. It has also always been my favorite subject in school and I had even gone to an arts middle school where I got to major in visual arts,” she informed.

Similarly, Todd has also been interested in art since she was a kid. She commented, “I’ve liked art since I was little, but I took a lot of different extracurricular activities, so I couldn’t always be in art.” This was part of the reason Art Club was made, for people to engage in Art if they were unable to get it into their schedule. 

When George came to OHS, she became a visual and performing arts teacher. She enjoyed teaching the class, and wanted to continue to allow kids to participate in artistic activities. She states that she got the idea to create the club, “last year during second semester.” 

Her inspiration for the Art Club came from her students, who had asked for an art club to join because, “they loved making art in my class so much and they wanted to continue with it,”  she explained. She realized that there used to be an art club that stopped operating during virtual learning, so she then decided to make a new one to allow kids to participate.

George did not create the club on her own. She had the help of many of her students, namely Jocelynn Todd and Mika Richardson. She also had the help of the art department; specifically Mrs. Ober who had previously run the club.

Todd had been inspired to join the Art Club because of her liking for George’s art class. She answered, “I was in Mrs. George’s art class last semester, and that’s when she started the art club, and I really liked what she was doing and what they were trying to achieve.” This motivated Todd to join the club to be engaged in arts when she wasn’t able to be in George’s class.

George explained that she had previously been involved in an Art Club. She noted “I had been in an art club when I was in high school. I really enjoyed having time outside of my existing art classes to create art.” This was a huge factor which helped her make a successful Art Club.

She encourages kids to join the club if they want to create things. She believes that people are unsure of their skill, but says, “I think everyone can create art regardless of their skill, because everyone is skilled in different ways.” Todd wants kids to join to be able to use their creativity and make something that they can enjoy.