By Victoria Berggren
The sound of laughter and conversation fills the air as high schoolers eat their lunch. After a low-pitch bell rings to mark the end of lunch, adolescents scatter to attend their next class period. However, these students' school day varies drastically from the average high school curriculum. In addition to their core math, science, and English classes, students participate in courses such as sculpting, African dance, and creative writing.
This is C.A.T.C.H High School.
Nestled between 11th and Creed Street, students are presented with a unique learning opportunity centered around a facet of education that is often truncated from the curriculum: the arts.
This [teaching] approach addresses students as living, spiritual, and active members of the community, giving them a place where they can prepare themselves to be global citizens and give back to the community that they come from,
said Patricia Smith, Director and Founder of C.A.T.C.H High School.
According to a study conducted by the U.S Department of Education in 2014, Students who study art are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and three times more likely to be awarded for school attendance.
I think the arts make our kids special,
said Smith.
There is more value to including the arts within education than meets the eye. Researchers from the Americans for the Arts Organization have found a strong correlation between students who study arts and higher test scores in both reading and science.
Standardized test scores C.A.T.C.H High School are significantly higher than other high schools in the surrounding area such as Crenshaw High School and Fremont High School. For example, over 80 percent of C.A.T.C.H students passed the CAHSEE exam, while only about 55 percent of Crenshaw students passed.
Even though it is evident that including arts within the education system helps students be sucessful, arts programs are typically the first to be underfunded or cut completely.
Federal funding for the arts and humanities rolls in around $250 million a year, while the National Science Foundation is funded around the $5 billion mark,
according to an article by Giuseppe Rebaudengo, Saving the Arts in our Nation's Schools.
In addition to improving test scores, the arts have been linked to higher graduation rates. So, that drawing and painting class that is often perceived as unnecessary or trivial, could be the difference between a student staying in school or deciding to drop out.
Multiple studies have concluded that students who have the arts embedded in their curriculum are more likely to receive a high school diploma. USC educational expert, Frederick Freking said a majority of students who drop out feel that urban education is prescriptive and not engaging so kids do not see the point in a high school diploma and drop out.
C.A.T.C.H is seeing the benefits of the arts within their school.
C.A.T.C.H high school has 100 percent graduation rate whereas Crenshaw High School reported a 79 percent graduation rate.
Kayla Williams, a graduate from Crenshaw High School said she does not think the education at Crenshaw High prepared her for college.
As a current student at UC Riverside, she said the curriculum at her high school felt, dumbed down so you were not at the level you were supposed to be by the time you got to college.
The unique curriculum and emphasis on arts at C.A.T.C.H High School have not only had a positive impact on tests scores, but have also helped students shine out of the classroom.
Jazmyn Bryant, a junior at C.A.T.C.H, is just one example. After taking a creative writing course at school, Bryant entered a piece into a writing competition. Her article was selected to be published in YES! Magazine and she is now in the running for a $250,000 scholarship.
I am so proud of her. I'm so proud of all my students
said Smith, This is what C.A.T.C.H is all about.