When Student Becomes the Teacher: SA Eighth-Grade Leads Exploratory on Art

Elsie Richter is creating her own masterpiece by helping her peers create works of art. An eighth-grader at Salisbury Academy, Elsie had a bright idea in one of her middle school elective classes, called exploratories, last year. “I remember it hit me, and I said, ‘Hey, what if I led my own exploratory?'” Elsie says. After sharing the idea with the middle school division director and getting approval on her concepts, Elsie’s class began to take shape. Coding and programming are passions of Elsie’s, so she first considered the idea of teaching computer animation before settling on the topic of mixed-media art.