TEMPLE, Texas — Temple Independent School District fifth graders learned about the arts and the future possibilities for participating in Fine Arts classes as Temple High School hosted the district’s Fine Arts Tour Monday morning (February 7th). More than 600 fifth graders had the chance to learn more about Fine Arts opportunities in the district and see the programs in action during the event.
Fifth graders from each of the district’s eight elementary schools attended Monday’s event with the schools broken into two separate sessions. Each of the Fine Arts programs from the high school had an opportunity to perform for the fifth graders to introduce the district’s offerings to the students. Following the performances, fifth graders moved to the cafeteria to meet with instructors and current students from each of the three middle school and their Fine Arts programs. The chance to ask questions of current students and teachers is incredibly valuable for both incoming students and the program’s instructors before the fifth graders start to choose middle school electives for next year.
“The fifth graders don’t know all of our programs, so this gives us a chance to show them what all we offer,” said Catrina Lotspeich, Fine Arts Director for Temple ISD. “This is a great recruiting event for our middle school teachers because it gives them a chance to get in front of the fifth graders and let them visit with current students about the various programs. We really want to help the fifth graders understand what the middle school electives are so that they can choose wisely when it comes to filling out their schedules for next year.”
This is the second time the district has used this format to help introduce the fifth graders to Fine Arts. The first Fine Arts Tour was in 2020 before last year’s event was changed due to the pandemic. The opportunity to learn more about the programs certainly helped open the eyes of a couple of fifth graders.
“I didn’t know they had middle school theatre and I really like that,” said Nadiah Stephens, a fifth grader at Jefferson Elementary. “I am looking forward to getting a chance to get involved in that next year.”
“I liked hearing about orchestra and theatre,” said Esmerelda McCarty, another Jefferson Elementary fifth grader. “They sounded cool and you get a chance to express yourself.”
Temple ISD Fine Arts provides students opportunities in programs ranging from band, choir and orchestra, to theatre arts, dance and visual arts. Most of those programs are also available on the middle school level and Monday’s program provided the fifth graders with a chance to see students participating at every level of Fine Arts.
“Another great thing about today is that we give our students a chance to see the finished product with the high school level students performing,” Lotspeich said. “Then the same fifth graders can go visit with middle schoolers they might already know and learn about the programs from their peers.”