For many, the adolescent years are the hardest. At NHHS, we have a program for our middle schoolers (though high schoolers are welcome too) called ARTC. This program takes place on Mondays after school.
The ARTC program stands for Achieving Responsibility, Recovery, and Resilience Through Creativity. This program allows the young teens in our middle school to explore art forms that they may have never seen before, and express their individuality through different art media. They do projects spanning from science, painting, clay, music, all the way to fashion.
The art counselor that runs the program, named Mrs. McClain, has been coming to NHHS for two years. Mrs. McClain has and continues to form personal relationships with all the kids, and I could see when I went into the room to observe the program that all of the students truly did have a friendship with Mrs. McClain.
NHHS and NHMS’s art teacher, Mrs. Borcherding, stated, “I think it's a very positive program and I think it gives students a good outlet to both explore art and discuss things that might be difficult in another setting.”
The ARTC program takes kids from the ages of 7 to 18. Mrs. McClain explained to me that ARTC helps kids with anxiety, anger management problems, depression, and mental disorders. She said, “I see kids come in shy all the time and leave excited, happy, and talkative.”
The ARTC program is completely funded through the Franklin County Children's Resource Board. They provide transportation for kids if needed and are always available to do one-on-one sessions.
I think that ARTC is an amazing program, and quite frankly, I wish I had the ability to access a program like this when I was in middle school. Anyone can make a referral, and anyone can go.
Thank you to Mrs. McClain for making a difference in NHMS and for sitting down to talk with me. I appreciate what you do and I’m sure that your students do as well.