Mid-Year Reflection from ARTStem participant, Diego Carrasco Schoch

Diego Carrasco Schoch is a dance faculty member at UNCSA. He writes . . .

So far, my participation in ARTStem has been a wonderful opportunity to grow as an instructor and will have lasting effects on the way I view my material and the manner in which I teach that material. Getting together with other instructors, from both UNCSA and Reynolds High School, and being forced to talk about education and the act of educating within a prescribed context within a formal setting is something that I find invigorating and necessary, although it happens all too rarely. In fact, I have never participated in such a format before and I imagine that this is unique. It’s been an honor to meet the teachers of Reynolds High. While I was delighted by some and frustrated or challenged by others, they all earned my respect. Hearing them talk reminded me of how privileged I am to be teaching the select group students who attend UNCSA. . . . Getting such a disparate group of people focused on a particular issue and looking at that issue through a particular lens is difficult at best, impossible if one thought rationally. The value of ARTStem – the formal conversations, the various lines of inquiry, exposure to particular readings, etc. – should not be minimized and will, at least for me, continue to reverberate. I feel confident that the value of the ArtStem Project will continue to express itself in me in surprising and subtle ways in both my teaching and my creative work. Lastly, as a new instructor at UNCSA, ArtStem has been providing a much needed opportunity to get to know colleagues I would never have otherwise had contact with and I treasure the burgeoning friendships I have formed.