Fifth-Grade Students Design Careers Intersecting With Art

Graphic designer, video game creator, interior designer: students in Marissa Reece-Jackson’s fifth grade art class recently presented on future careers and the intersection of that career with art.

They first researched an art-related career and then created an art piece that was in some way related to the career they researched. Their presentations involved discussing the career and explaining how they created a piece of art related to the job. The students wowed in presentations with 3-D renderings of homes, interactive video games, and creative menus incorporating design elements.

Stella S. ’29 chose the career of graphic designer and designed an outer space-themed ice cream menu to illustrate her career. Using excellent presentation skills she shared how she used Canva, an online program, to design her project including the flavors “Asteroid Rocks” and “Star-Studded Caramel.” She also created an action-packed video trailer to introduce the menu that incited giggles and applause from her fellow students.

Ike L. ’29 walked the class through his interactive video game. Using the code of another game, he designed elements to include in his game that alluded to the old-school Super Mario games. He drew elements of the game on pieces of paper and added them to the game.

Marissa hopes to pair students with professionals in various artistic careers to help them get a better understanding of their career from a personal perspective. If anyone would like to be involved in this mentorship process, please email Marissa.

The presentations were extremely creative and playful, but the sensitivity in which students asked questions and affirmed the student artists was also deserving of praise.