It’s the end of a pep assembly. You’re sitting on the bleachers with your friends and surrounded by random, obnoxiously loud people. Over the course of almost an hour, sports team after sports team has been exalted and recognized for their achievements, with forensics and debate rushed into the mix. You don’t want to go back to class but you don’t want to be in an overcrowded gym, either.

Suddenly, another teacher walks into the middle of the gym floor. They tap the mic to gather the student body’s attention and begin to talk about the latest competition for art students. While they list off the winners, the audience tunes the teacher out and socializes instead.

This is the situation for visual art students at LHS. All they get is a display case in the rotunda while sports teams are the main attraction during pep assemblies. Sports teams get the wild, frenzied energy of the school and the art students get ignored.

Art isn’t seen as a legitimate accomplishment like being an athlete is, not only by schools but by society as well.

The mistreatment of visual art students extends out to administration and this is clearly seen with the recent situation of photography students trying to get art letters.

Orchestra and band members get lettered, yet proficient visual art students don’t even though all three are part of the fine arts program and are just as qualified as athletes and forensics/debate students.

Some students in portfolio classes have dedicated their a large part of their school schedule and extracurricular time to art. For many, it equates to the commitment athletes make while they’re in season.

The dilemma boils down to high schools adequately recognizing the accomplishments of art students.

We go ballistic when a sports team has a winning streak, as could be seen in the hype regarding both our football and basketball teams this year. Not to say the hype isn’t deserved,, they did an amazing job and they should be recognized. We recognize the winners at debate and forensics tournaments and students for musical accomplishments, but when a photography piece by Lawrence graduate Nina Friesen was selected for a national art tour, few students ever found out.

But for art students, all we do is display their work in the rotunda. With the amount of talent that is in the program, they do deserve a lot more recognition. Art is difficult and takes years of practice. It takes hard work and perseverance, along with lots of patience– especially patience– just like an athlete conditioning their body to a sport.

You wouldn’t get a letter just for taking one art class, however. It would go to a student who is in a high-level art class, like portfolio or AP studio art. To earn the letter would take a lot of work, just like it does for an athlete or a music student. It would take winning district or state competitions where visual art students represent LHS, just like athletes do. The balance would be equal, yet how the qualifications would work is essentially up to the art department.