Back to School 2022 Might Feel Normal This Year But for Millions of American Students, Their Brains May Be Forever Changed

CHICAGO - August 18, 2022 - According to Education Week, students nationwide are suffering from “ongoing stresses outside of their control, such as reduced social and educational engagement and health or family anxiety” as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The compounded power of these abnormal stressors can interfere with healthy brain development affecting executive functioning, memory systems, and emotion regulation. 

The remedy, experts say, is to foster greater opportunities for social interaction, community and emotional support. 

Luckily for the students at The Chicago Academy for the Arts (The Academy), the nation's premier performing and visual arts high school, their curriculum is founded on the principle of community with a dream team of teachers and faculty who go above and beyond to create a safe space for students to explore themselves and their artistic gifts.

“Art is always therapeutic for the person who is engaging in it, whether they need therapeutic services or not,” says Elizabeth Cunningham, Assistant Principal of The Academy and mom to two sons who both attended the world-class performing arts high school. Cunningham and the rest of The Academy community will celebrate the return to in-person learning with a Teacher’s Parade on Thursday, August 25th, all with hopes of enjoying a new school year that will finally resemble life before the pandemic. 

“We don’t talk about community enough when we talk about education. Education is sometimes seen as moments of teaching in isolation”, said Cunningham. “What we experienced when we were remote for a year and a half was what the students really needed was personal connection, whether it was to their teachers, their classmates or to the wonderful people who work at the front desk in the mornings and know you by name. Feeling like you belong in a place where people know who you are and appreciate you for what you do puts anybody in a better mindset for all learning.”

With an average class size of just 15 students, The Academy has always been a special place. You can ask any one of the enthusiastic students who have picked up their lives - some moving more than 100 miles across the state - for the opportunity to train at The Academy and join their tight knit circle of visual artists, dancers, musicians, theatre artists and filmmakers that boasts prominent alumni like prolific musician and songwriter Justin Tranter, the talent behind hits like Justin Bieber’s Sorry, Gwen Stefani’s Used to Love You, and Fall Out Boy’s Centuries, and Saturday Night Live star Cecily Strong. 

Asim Baraka, a rising senior in the musical theatre department and key contributor to the school’s annual Black History Month Show, knew immediately that he had found a home within The Academy. After moving from Champaign, IL to Chicago, Baraka described the school as a “mecca.” He continued, “it’s a place where I could meet other artists I wouldn’t have exposure to before. I’ve noticed a lot of separation between different kinds of people in other high schools. There’s a greater clique environment. At The Academy, there’s a connection between everyone and a web that forms between all the students in a way that makes you feel at home.”

Despite a year and a half of social distancing mandates and other restrictions, administrators lived by the much lauded show biz mantra of “the show must go on,” relying on technology and their own innate creativity to allow for live performances. During their Shakespeare Festival, each student actor would “take their places” in a different class room, backed up by green screen images that would serve as the set and create the shared world of the play. Using Zoom, the students would interact with one another as if they were all on stage together. 

“It was cool to see the things we came up with to still be able to do our art,” said Baraka. 

Quinn Kuch, a rising senior in the dance department, said “There was no handbook on how to deal with academics and arts in a global pandemic. I got to see what it was like before COVID and with COVID. Our school did a very good job. I still felt like I got a lot out of my time, even online.”

Danielle Ryan, a rising senior in the musical theatre department, agreed, sharing “we were constantly asked what is working and what isn’t working.”

As Cunningham and her team of superstar teachers return to in-person classrooms to nurture the talent of Chicago’s next generation of homegrown artists, she reflects that “that time away from the building and each other helped us understand that as artists, teachers, and thinkers in this world, that all of the really great work we do happens in community with other people.”

The Academy accepts new students throughout the school year on a rolling basis. 

ABOUT THE CHICAGO ACADEMY FOR THE ARTS

Designated a National School of Distinction by the John F. Kennedy Center, The Chicago Academy for the Arts (The Academy) has provided world-class education for aspiring young artists in the fields of music, dance, theatre, media arts, musical theatre, and visual arts for more than 40 years. As Chicago's leading arts and culture high school, and one of the most diverse schools in Illinois, The Academy nurtures students with an unmatched and transformative educational model. Students are inspired to expand their potential through rigorous arts training paired with an esteemed academic curriculum.

Notable alumni include Cecily Strong (Saturday Night Live actor, author, comedian - 2002, Theatre), Lara Flynn Boyle (award-winning actress - 1988, Theatre), Justin Trantner (award-winning musician and music producer - 1998, Music and Musical Theatre), Lalah Hathaway (award-winning singer - 1986, Music), Tom Gold (award-winning choreographer - 1986, Dance), and Kevin Mimms (actor and current "Jake from State Farm" - 2008, Theatre. ​ Through the generosity of donors and acclaimed alumni, The Academy awards more than $1 million in student scholarships every year.