Without art, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

During distance learning, two of my grandparents passed away within a week. As a result, I fell into a depression that felt never-ending. What got me out of the dark was connecting to the California State Summer School for the Arts. For the first time in months, I was feeling creative; I started the rigorous application and was accepted that summer.

Before this opportunity, college was not an option. However, I am attending UC Irvine thanks to the Summer School for the Arts and a scholarship from the Herb Alpert Foundation. I am proof that even the smallest space for art in students’ lives can have a monumental impact.

I realize how privileged I am to have had an arts education, primarily since I had to leave my school district to pursue my artistic ambitions at The School of Arts and Enterprise. However, I worried about other students in my old district who were passionate about the arts but lacked the same access to a complete arts education. I carried my determination to fight for their right to an arts education through an internship with Create CA, an organization advocating for arts education for all students.

To begin my advocacy journey, I interviewed my middle school band director, Tim Kinney, who has taught at my old school district, Pomona Unified, for over 25 years. He told me he currently teaches over 300 students across five schools, and students only receive 30 minutes of music instruction a week. When asked how to improve arts programs, he said he couldn’t think of much outside of more funding for additional teachers and instruments, but he was grateful for the district’s help, like buying a few instruments for students.

Read the full article about arts education by Matthew Garcia-Ramirez at EdSource.