Schechter Boston has recently ended their portion of fall electives for Middle School students in Grades 6-8 (classes in the Arts and STEM), and gave students an opportunity to present their work in an interactive exhibition. The outcomes are breathtaking; you might not even notice that they were made by kids.
To start off strong, the makers’ lab with our ed tech specialist, Claire Caine, presented their custom-built tables on which they placed miniature models of said tables. This created a disorienting effect, causing people to think that the full-sized tables were just there for presenting the models. Charlie ’23 stated, “It was hard to believe that the tables themselves were made by kids since they looked…well…really good.” Three different groups dove into the process of creating tables, and they looked unreal.
Next up, the metals elective, run by our beloved art teacher, Joy Chertow, manages to astonish us every time with their jaw-dropping outcomes. I am being completely biased by saying this, but metals was by far one of the premier presentations. These kids were able to use a soldering iron (under supervision of an adult or an experienced student) as well as a saw to create the statement piece of your dreams! Some kids even ventured beyond the realm of normal jewelry and decided to make fidget rings, which became a popular creation.
How could we forget the adored studio art, led by Anastasia Semash and Anna Boyer, that had so many participants they eventually needed to split it up into two separate electives due to over-enrollment. This year many young, talented artists have let their creativity flow within these abstract or realistic paintings that they created (on display in the front forum). Anastasia, an artist and painter, taught the class and has done an extraordinary job both with the elective and by incorporating a fun scavenger hunt created by the painting students to keep the attendees entertained and invested in the art pieces themselves.
It’s time to move on to the next elective, short story, which is run by none other than Stephen Clermont, the eighth grade language arts teacher. “I’d say all added up together the average amount of words the kids used for this project was 5,000, which is around 10 pages. However, some managed to go above and beyond,” Clermont said. It’s insane to stop and realize the potential these kids have shown within their stories.
A popular one written by Sophie ’24 opened with this: “The blue and colorful sky hid behind a veil of gray for the duration of the ceremony. The casket is lowered into the freshly dug up soil. Hugo takes a deep breath, grabs a handful of dirt, and throws it over his brother’s coffin. Out of the corner of his eye, Hugo notices a clown-like figure standing in the trees.”
Moving quickly along, we have the singular film elective run by Jax (film teacher). The kids storyboarded and performed a 10-15 minute film all by themselves.
Music production, facilitated by Aaron Bellamy, had a display of wonderful beats created by the kid musicians, which would have you bobbing up and down or tapping along to the beat in no time.
And to end off this wonderful show, improv, called “The Go Around,” managed by Meredith Charles, was the perfect elective to close the curtain. The elective took place in the back forum, an open space that people could walk by (this is where they got the idea to call their group “The Go Around”). “It is called ‘The Go Around’ since every time people came they had to GO AROUND,” said student Leah ’24. The group had four different short performances, including games in which the audience would create the premise for the actors’ story that they build off of.
Other games were called “World’s Worst,” “Mad Libs,” “Party Quirks” and “Survivor.” In “Survivor,” the actors would be put in a dangerous situation and each round someone would be eliminated (but their part would never be forgotten) until there is only one person left standing. In this performance, Eliot ’25, was the“survivor” and had to perform every part of the performance alone.
If you want to see any of these brilliant works, they are available at the school. Whether they are your kids’ creations or your friends, it’s always nice to support creativity. We were flabbergasted by the talent of these kids and we can’t wait to see what will come out of the next one.
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