Latin School of Chicago

my PASSION Nikita Volynskiy '20 My passion is acting. From the time that I was really young, I was doing skits and little performances. My mom [who passed away when Nikita was in junior kindergarten] always told me that I was going to be an actor. When I was in first grade and heard that Ms. Durairaj was starting a musical, I wanted to try it. I auditioned for Shere Khan in the Jungle Book, but of course I didn't get the part since Shere Khan should be played by a pretty big kid, or at least a third grader. So I was the baby elephant, and that is how my acting career started. I only had a short song and three words, but when I said them everyone laughed. The next year, I played Jasper, one of Cruella De Vil's henchmen, in 101 Dalmations. That was my favorite part. He was really kind of funny and dorky, and I love comedy. Last year, I was Charlie in Willy Wonka, but Charlie is not that funny. Now I'm the genie in Aladdin. I love the role, but it is challenging, and I am still trying to figure it out. Ms. Durairaj has supported me a lot. She always makes me want to try my best. Ms. Townsend, one of the moms who helps us, is a professional actress, and she just has a way of getting us to learn the lines. Sometimes she acts things out for us, and we say, 'Whoa! Now we can remember it all.' But it's not only the people in the play who support us. My dad spends a lot of time going through lines with me, my homeroom teachers, even my friends help whenever they can. And so it goes throughout the year. When the fourth graders learn about Indian manuscripts and draw Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, they practice working with a compass. When the first graders are studying vertebrates and invertebrates in science class, Friedman challenges them to conceptualize their Matisse animal collages with these definitions in mind. When the second graders are creating their Day of the Dead skeletons, Friedman uses Spanish vocabulary to describe the various parts. The work going on in the art room has many layers. The program develops skills at each level, whether it is cutting with scissors, learning to paint with a brush or printmaking. Along the way, students are exposed to a vast variety of media and materials. "For young children, especially, the visceral component of arts education is so important," says Friedman. "It is one thing for them to be in front of a computer screen, which is flat and has no texture. It is another thing to be in the presence of clay, to put your hands in it. They get to work with wire here. Where else do they get to do that? They get to put mosaics together. They get to feel materials and fabricate things." The Artists Beyond the hands-on learning, Friedman says getting to know the artists provides context to everything her students do. Each year, the three work tables in the art room are named after artists, and students in all grades learn about the works, techniques, life and legacy of the three artists. Friedman always includes a woman and an American artist in the group. So, the 2011-12 curriculum focused on Leonardo Da Vinci, Henri Mattise and Deborah Butterfield, and students' renditions of Da Vinci's sketches, Mattise's collages and Butterfield's sculpted horses decorated the walls and shelves throughout the building. She also introduces artists related to the topics being covered in classrooms, such as Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo for the first grade unit on Mexico or Winslow Homer for the third grade introduction to American history in their Pioneer unit. "I want to be able to share the joy that I get when I look at an art work that I love, and I want my students to experience that too – that feeling of really understanding a piece of art and everything that has gone into making it." – Brenda Friedman Latin School of Chicago 17

• Cover