The start of the new school year earlier this month marks the first time the entire RAHS student body has been in the same building since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and needless to say there have been some pretty significant changes around the school. Some of these changes include, the addition of a new wing to the school, and a complete remodel of another, two new commons areas, and two graduating classes of students who have never even been in the building. While all these changes will take some time to get used to, the change that many students find themselves thinking about the most is the new Raider Time schedule. Raider Time takes place four days a week in a 30 minute block of time after fifth hour, from 2:10 to 2:40. During this time students are invited to visit teachers to get more individual help, join a club, or get extra time to practice their sports. This has proven to be a hard decision for students, so I decided to research clubs and activities so that you can best decide how you want to spend your extra 30 minutes of school time.

This week I interviewed Mr. Mark Tinsley, an art teacher at our school who’s in charge of Art Club for this upcoming school year. Despite not having had their first meeting yet, Mr. Tinsley was able to tell me the basics of Art Club. 

Isaac: Can you give us the rundown of what happens at a typical Art Club meeting?

Mr. Tinsley: We’re actually starting our first Art Club meeting this Thursday, but what we’ve done in the past is try to get a sense of what kids would like to do. Most kids have either wanted to draw or paint, but as we’re rebuilding after the pandemic we’d like to slowly introduce more things, like spray painting, leather working, things of that nature to increase the interest in the club. 

Isaac: What kinds of students do you think would like to join Art Club?

Mr. Tinsley: To be honest, all types. As Andy Warhol said “Art is a private club that anyone can join” so we want to make sure that we’re always inclusive, that no one feels turned away, so they can do art, or they can learn to do art if their schedules and courses don’t allow time for it, so we want everybody to feel included and make sure there is something for every student. 

Isaac: To what extent do you let your club members roam free, I know we talked about the different styles they might like to do and about how you’re opening that up this year, but do you guys ever do projects together as a group or do you just let the students do what they like to do as individuals?

Mr. Tinsley: Pretty much a combination of both, very interesting that you bring that up though because one of the things that I’d like to do, as you know since the schools been renovated we have a lot of blank walls, so I would like to, with our wonderful administration’s permission, do a mural. I’m currently in talks with administration to do a student project mural, I might do that for one of the classes and open that up to Art Club as well. That’ll take some discussions, some planning, and some logistical stuff but I think it’ll be well worth the effort!

Isaac: Thank you so much for meeting with me to talk about Art Club Mr. Tinsley!

Mr. Tinsley: Of course! Thank you for stopping by!

The first Art Club meeting will take place on Thursday the 30th from 3-4 pm. Mr. Tinsley would like everyone to register for Art Club online or in the activities office beforehand. With Mr. Tinsley’s dedication to making Art Club accessible to everyone and the new group projects he has in mind, you won’t want to miss being a part of this after school club.