Written by Audrey McClish and Mailani Mckelvy
Above art by Shafaq Bhatti
It is common knowledge that there are many artistic students at Morro Bay High School- especially in photography, ceramics, and drawing. What many don’t know is that artistic talent- even in high school can serve more than just as a creative expression. Career and Technical Education, more commonly known as CTE, are different categories of education that students can take over the course of their high school career allows for the opportunity to take art classes in the context of a career.
CTE provides a list of classes that students should take if they wanted to pursue that a specific category- for example, if you wanted to complete a Transportation pathway, you would take Intro to Auto, Auto I, and Auto II. CTE completers, or those who complete a pathway, are considered ready to work upon graduation or ready to progress in their education toward a technical or professional level career.
Morro Bay High School offers eight different categories including agriculture, arts, law and more, based on the classes available (a comprehensive list can be found here). According to Advance CTE, the organization that promotes CTE, More than 1,500 high schools include CTE courses into their curriculum. One concentration that is rapidly growing in popularity is 3D Animation. Animation CTE courses exist, but not at Morro Bay High School. When MBHS students were asked in an informal poll if they would like a 3D animation class, over half of students responded yes.
Some students at MBHS are already exploring this field- and having a lot of fun with it too- like student animator Audrey Mayfield mentioned in an interview, “Animation is big- it’s entertainment, and people rely on entertainment.”
See part two of this four-part series on animation for interviews with students, such as Mayfield, who are pioneering the animated arts here at MBHS.
