On April 12, 2024, Alisal celebrated VAPA Day to honor the Visual & Performing Arts – Art, Dance, Theater, and Music. It allowed students to show their hard work from this school year. According to art teacher Andre Fernandez, this whole thing is for the students so it’s up to the students to produce the work they can proudly show.
All the visual and performing art teachers collaborated for VAPA day. Baile teacher Oscar Benavidez, Art 3-4 teacher Andre Fernandez, Art 1-2 teacher Adrian Cornejo, Dimensional Art teacher Karina Garcia, drama teacher Veronica Pulido, and band teacher Samuel Oh. “It was a collaboration project between [all the visual arts teachers], ” Garcia said. “We saw a lot of other high schools having similar events, the Carmel art expo, and the Salinas art show last year. We just felt that with a lot of the talent we have here, we should be able to have an event of our own that doesn’t require us to go to another site, another school and just be a small part of it.”
Benavidez said that they collaborated during their PLC on Wednesdays and brainstormed the idea of creating a new school event to shine a light on the arts. According to Garcia, it had been in talks since January and started getting hands in mid-March. “There were other district art events and we saw it fit to bring it here at Alisal because we have the strongest sense of community in my opinion,” Fernandez said.
The upcoming days before the actual event, visual and performing art students were working their hardest for this event to go smoothly. “I went after school to Mr. Fernandez’s tutorials to finish my watercolor project. I was a little behind and made time before my swimming practice to go,” senior Victor Villicana said.
Students organized artwork, made cardboard cutouts, practiced their dances, and stayed after school to speed up the process. “I went to tutorials to get hours from Fernandez and to finish my project, but I had a good time because my friends were there,” senior Ethan Yepez said. “It felt like a normal period, so it wasn’t that big of a deal to stay an extra hour after school.”
Advanced art students had to do an acrylic painting of “The Views of Salinas.” Art students went around Salinas and took pictures of places that meant something to them. “It was actually hard to make the painting because we didn’t get a lot of colors to work with and it was difficult to get the right colors but I liked the outcome,” senior Edith Bruno said.
The event took place on the benches in front of the art classrooms. It ran all day from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm for all staff and students. Teachers were allowed to bring their class to see all the artwork displayed. Fernandez said 4-5 classes visited each period.
After school, students were able to bring their loved ones to the event from 3:30 pm to 6 pm. Art was displayed in the showcases. “Some parents never knew that their kids had that talent/skill so, yeah it was a good time,” Fernandez said.
Students got to choose what they wanted to display. Art 3-4 students displayed their work from this school year. Pen and ink, pencil shading, pastels, charcoal, watercolor, and acrylic paint. “I liked that they showcased the talent of the students here in Alisal. My favorite art display had to be the oil paintings of different foods, specifically the Wingstop one,” senior Gabby Hernandez said.
Around 4:30 there was a ceremony to acknowledge the students at Alisal who got recognized in the Scholastic art & writing competition. Teens were able to submit their work to receive regional awards for Gold Key, Silver Key and Honorable Mention. At Alisal there were 4 students who were acknowledged out of many who submitted their work – senior Edith Bruno received 2 Silver Keys and an honorable mention, senior Danielle Guerrero received a Silver Key, senior Keyla Rodriguez (me) received 2 honorable mentions, and senior Ireland Rodriguez received 1 Silver Key and 2 honorable mentions.
At 5:00 pm, baile folklorico students started dancing at the amphitheater. Dances from regions like Guerrero MX and Nuevo Leon MX. “One of the regions was Guerrero, I wanted to focus in that class with foot work, not particularly anything that had to do with hand movements,” Benavidez said. “That’s where I saw the strength in the class and we can all work together.”
According to Fernandez, there was a pretty good turn out after school. There will be a next time with the hope that it can last longer and receive more attention. “Overall, I would rate the event an 8 out of 10 because of the lack of advertisement,” senior Aliah Alvarado said. “I thought the event itself was interesting and entertaining but I wish more people participated.”
Seeing all the students open up and be proud enough of their work to show it to others shows something. “I thought it was cool and inspirational to see my classmate’s artwork. I felt flabbergasted because it made me realize it was a year’s worth of art projects,” senior Anthony Rojas said.
There’s hope to gain recognition for the students that are here in Alisal with a hidden talent, said Garcia. Many students are afraid of that first push and they finally have this opportunity to show their work. “I think having events like this shines that light on the arts and makes us rethink how important it is in our lives,” Benavidez said.
