BRAD HORN/Nevada Appeal Ben Guberman, 16, dances with Carinne Powell, 17, during the occupational fair at Carson High School on Thursday. The students are in theater and concert choir.
Carson High School offers more than reading, writing and arithmetic, and those options were highlighted Thursday during the school's annual Arts & Occupation Fair.
"The purpose is to let children see what classes they want to look into doing toward their career," said Brian Reedy, video production teacher.
Representatives and examples from disciplines such as drama, auto shop, culinary arts, choir, video production, digital photography and business were on display in Senator Square on Thursday.
Two new additions to the fair were the crafts and ceramics classes from the fine arts department.
"By offering the ceramics and crafts, we can get the students introduced to art without intimidating them. Students shy away from art if they think they can't do it," said Susan Taylor, arts and occupational department chair.
Senior Jeremiah James said his theater classes have been some of the most beneficial of his high school career.
"From theater classes you learn history, art, etiquette, pronunciation as well as the technical aspects of building, costuming and decorating the set," James said. "We just did 'Sweet Charity,' so we learned the art from the era and the history happening at the time."
On the other end of Senator Square, sophomore Tatum Bobhnke was demonstrating how to make a wall hanging, one of the projects available in the ceramics classes.
"We make mugs and dragons, plus the wall hangings. It's different than a regular art class," Bobhnke said.
Senior Derek Giurlani said he hoped to persuade underclassmen to consider taking auto shop classes because it gave him skills he can continue to use.
"It can teach you the basic tools you will use," Giurlani said. "It let me build a go-cart and do some work helping the school."
Taylor said that the classification of some of the disciplines in her department has changed with technology.
"In my photography classes when we used a dark room we were definitely fine arts, but now that we use digital photography, it's more of a crossover class," Taylor said.
Other crossover classes include graphic design and 3-D animation classes that are now available using computer technology.
• Contact reporter Jarid Shipley at jshipley@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.
The Arts/Occupation department at CHS
Occupational Programs
Also referred to as CTE - Career & Technical Education classes:
Graphic Design
3D Animation
Digital Photography
Web Page Design
Digital Video
AutoCAD
GIS
Automotive Technology
Auto Body Repair
Welding
Culinary Arts
Early Childhood Education
Business Management
Accounting
Dual Credit CHS/WNCC Occupational Programs
Machine Tool
Construction
Computer Repair & Networking
Fine Arts Programs
Drama
Technical Theater
Choir
Band
Drawing/Painting
Ceramics
Crafts
ROTC
Reserve Officer Training Corps
Additionally
Journalism is classified as a language arts class at CHS but is recognized by the State Department of Education as an occupational program.