In 2002 Mrs. Juile Chappetto began teaching Drawing and Painting at Mount Carmel. Because her classes were so popular, Mr. Matt McGuire became involved in 2010, and the curriculum expanded to include graphic design, photography, and advanced arts. Last year, Mr. KC Perlberg joined MC and helped grow the performing arts on campus by resurrecting the Drama Club and teaching multiple music courses. 

These three teachers stepped up for the arts because they know the value young men can find. Art is important in boys’ education because it relaxes the mind, inspires feelings of empathy, and builds confidence, but ultimately all three can shape a boy into a man.

Art relaxes the mind, which is a sentiment all three teachers resonate with.

“When I’m drawing I can forget other roles in my life,” Mrs. Chappetto said. “Those things that separate you from what you have to do in life allow you to relax. Those are good for you.”

Young men need ways to vent stress, a sentiment with which Mr. Perlberg agrees.

“Being alive is not something you can do with clenched teeth,” Mr. Perlberg said. “If you are putting yourself in a position where you can’t be relaxed enough to engage with the world in a healthy way, then you need to make a change.”

Senior Jason Isais, who participated in last year’s spring play, A Separate Piece, found his outlet to de-stress from school through acting.

“It’s a whole other world,” Isais said. “It’s fictional. I don’t have to think about much. It’s just anything goes in the script.”

Isais isn’t the only senior who relaxes through the arts. Kaleb McCluer draws, folds origami, and does graphic design in addition to being a part of Mrs. Chappetto’s Advanced Art Studio. He agrees with Isais that art is a destresser, and believes that the relaxation art provides is crucial.

“Life is stressful, and if you let it take over it won’t be as fun,” McCluer said. “I think taking time to do things that aren’t stressful is extremely important because other than that what’s the point of living?”

Additionally, the arts can inspire empathy, which is something Isais has experienced first hand. 

“I would say that Gene [his character in A Seperate Piece] had some pretty sad moments in the play,” he said. “It helped me feel these kinds of emotions that people could be having in their day to day lives, or what kind of stresses that people have.”

Mr. Perlberg agrees that acting is one of the arts that can inspire empathy, and emphasises how important it is for a young man to participate in it.

“You can’t honestly portray a character on stage unless you have at least some workable ability to empathize,” Mr. Perlberg said. “One of the primary goals of this stage of life, from childhood to adulthood, that marks the difference is the ability to empathize with others.”

Upon reflecting on his time as Gene, Isais acquired his own reason for why empathy is important.

“I don’t think we can just move through life with no emotion at all,” he said. “There’s a reason why building emotions can help build relationships too.”

Whether it be through visual or performance arts, a boy can further his maturation by experiencing empathy.

Finally, the honing of art skills provides a way of building confidence. To explain this, Mr. McGuire thought of an example in which confidence can be built for a newcomer.

“I come in here and think, I’m not that great of an artist,” Mr. McGuire said. “Then I start to do some art, and I start to get better at it. I start to learn techniques, things that I was doing wrong. I gradually get more confident in my abilities.”

If you are confident in your art, you can also take criticism, and few people are more confident in their art than McCluer.

“If everybody hates it, but you like it, that’s all that matters,” McCluer said. “I made it and I like it. And those are the only two factors that really mean anything.”

In this way, through honing an art, boys learn to take criticism with a grain of salt.

“If you’re up on stage performing, I’m pretty sure you don’t suck. you’re up on that stage for a reason, you got there somehow.” Mrs. Chappetto said. “And if you’re drawing, painting, you’re exhibiting artwork, you got there somehow. Somebody said you’re good and put you there. But you have to be open to somebody saying, yeah, I don’t really like it.”

Accepting criticism can be a sign of maturity because it takes confidence in your work to accept feedback. For that reason, the building of confidence in art is important in a boy’s education.

Mrs. Chappetto is pleased with the way MC’s art program has grown and is even more pleased with how art has helped students relax, experience empathy, and build confidence.

“Twenty-four years ago there was nothing,” Mrs. Chappetto said. “It’s here, and I think it’s here to stay in respect to the fact that the students called for a greater art program.”