Edutopia - February/March 2008 - (Page 22) Cool Schools The class’s enhanced reputation has led to collaborations with high school students at the Polaris Career Center, an institution down the road from Berea High School where students and mid-career professionals can take credit-bearing classes in mechanical engineering or multimedia and graphic design. One of the team efforts was the Pilot Plane Project, created to celebrate the hundredth birthday of legendary artist and designer Viktor Schreckengost. BHSFX students sketched, sculpted, molded, painted, and sewed costumes for a gigantic Schreckengost caricature, along with accompanying dog and cat figures. These and an airplane Polaris students constructed were displayed for months at the Tower City Center, a commercial hub in downtown Cleveland. Though the “high school” tag tends to keep paychecks on the slim side, what stuns many community members and clients is the caliber of the work. In a recent feature in the special effects publication Horrorshow, BHSFX accomplishments are lauded right alongside those of industry professionals. “I show the kids, I say, ‘Look: They’re selling this for $9,000,’” says Bycznski, flipping through Halloween catalogs. “‘Look at the sculpture. Is it better than anything that’s in our room right now?’ I think if you look at what other people are doing, we fall pretty much in line with what it is that’s going on out there.” More Than Monsters Program alumni have gone on to attend the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Savannah College of Art and Design, and the Full Sail School of Film, Art, Design, Music & Media Production. The class also has visited—as honored guests—the Douglas Education Center’s celebrated Tom Savini Special Effects Make-Up Program, in Monessen, Pennsylvania. Still, just as a talent for visual art is not a requirement for entry to the class, it is certainly not the only goal, either. “I tell the kids on the first day of every class, ‘It doesn’t matter to me whether you end up liking art, or whether you end up thinking that you’re an artist,’” says Bycznski. “‘My underlying goal is to make you a creative problem solver. Can you solve problems for yourself? Can you think your way out of a problem? Can you think of solutions to things that are thrown to you?’” Bycznski’s mantra, whether regarding an in-class project or a Living the Dream: From caricature to horror to filmmaking, BHSFX students are the creators of their own curriculum. 22 EDUTOPIA FEBRUARY/MARCH 2008
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