Art... Attacked?

Kimura Carlsten

Graduation cords are worn by seniors to recognize the organizations, clubs and honors societies they belong to. Most of those cords can be achieved by the entire graduating class, but there are four seniors every year who wear XLR audio cables. Most people look past the cables or don’t even know they exist. But, if you’re a part of the crew for Art Attack, you understand their true value.

These cords are ugly, but seniors flaunt them with pride because of the tradition. On the last day of every school year, four juniors who have spent their high school journey in Art Attack decorate cables for the graduating seniors. Cords are crocheted with flowers and adorned with heartfelt photos of unforgettable memories. I’ve seen this tradition make its mark for the last two years, and this year, I’ll be making a cord myself. However, I know that when I graduate in two more years, I won’t get one.

The four FTV students of the class of 2028 will be the last to inherit that position from conservatory because Art Attack is opening up to a lot more students who wish to participate.

Rabecca Woodruff, the Art Attack adviser stated “We’re trying to give opportunities to the masses to take an FTV class because not a lot of [the] electives are [related to] FTV.”

The elective class is set to open to anyone willing to give up a block of their schedule no matter their skill level or past experience. “If they want to do Art Attack, they’re going to take the broadcast and social media class. The goal is that we will have two classes — or two different levels — so we have Art Attack Live every single day during blocks three and six,” Woodruff explained.

The changes coming aren’t the first that have been implemented, however. If you were a student the past few years, you would have seen the incredible changes made to the format of Art Attack. It has gone from live every day, to live every blue day, to live and pre-recorded every other day. It doesn’t make sense at first, but these iterations were the result of teacher and administrative concerns.

While it might seem like an insignificant number of minutes students miss each day, it adds up. Having a class dedicated to Art Attack hopes to address these problems and bring more resources into the TV studio. Woodruff said “They are taking over. That way, it’s double-funded by both FTV and the school, so we can get better cameras, better backgrounds and so on.”

Still, it pains me deeply that future years of FTV students won’t experience Art Attack as I have. It was a tradition passed down from grade to grade, and the crew became my family. I grieve the fact that next year we won’t be able to share what we have learned with the years of FTV students beyond us. However, I’m happy for the broadcast class. They’ll be introduced to a world I love.