I think that the Community Arts course really brought together the Integrated Regional Arts Program and integrated us with the rest of the school community. Being able to work on bigger scale projects that involved the whole school community was a massive opportunity which I feel embodies the essence of IRAP. While I personally have a hard time working with other people, I understand that it is an essential part of IRAP and arts in the community. in Hindsight, I’m glad that I was forced out of my shell a little bit to interact with my classmates. Being able to collaborate on projects is crucial and I learned a lot of important lessons by working with my classmates, such as the importance of being confident and articulate. No matter what career path I choose, this course will help me because collaboration is a key part of pretty much any career. The Crusaders Rename Project forced me to work closely with a group, which allowed me to learn important lessons about how to collaborate. While I didn’t work in a group for the Library Mural Project, I still corresponded with other groups and got to show my ideas and sketches. While I didn’t interact much with the class, the few small interactions that I had were very important to me. These interactions were especially important for me because I was completely isolated last year due to my anxiety disorder and OCD. I was so anxious that I couldn’t come into school and I didn’t interact with anybody. Community Arts was a great course to help me re-integrate myself into society after being completely isolated, while also setting me up to be able to work more effectively in the future.
