On Friday, the R.B. Hudson Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) Academy had visitors from the Shakespeare Festival to help theater students prepare for their end of the year performance of “The Lion King” that the entire art department is becoming involved in from costume design from fashion students to musical performance from the band and choir.

In a world where the science, technology, engineering and mathematics is focused on greatly, it is important to not forget about the A in STEAM.

The Huffington Post reported the importance of up and coming STEAM jobs and the ways that students learn.

“Children need to be engaged in learning, and learn in ways that can hold their attention, the way social media, and internet sites like Youtube do, The easiest way to do this is to make it fun and interesting. The inclusion of arts does this, for a wider range of children. Something like video art tied into code makes learning look more fun, where the student is solving a problem to create a project they love,” according to the article. “Art education allows students to learn things in a more open ended way and make them applicable to real life. Arts and creativity are crucial to the sciences, technology and computer science. They are the tool that allows technology to be usable in real life.  Arts are used in website and user interfaces design, advertising, product design and usability, branding and start-up creation among countless other uses, all things that are crucial to STEM learning and careers.”

Art such as theater, music and design are all ways that students can learn. It is important to nurture what students learn and how they best learn.

Helping students follow their interests will keep them engaged in education and more importantly keep them in the school system.

It is beneficial that programs like the art department at R.B. Hudson exist for our upcoming artists and performers that will come from these programs.