Amy Bouse, Santa Monica High School

Art Teacher

SMMEF’s support is invaluable for our schools’ art departments. Through the Education Foundation, I have been able to provide my students with richer, deeper connections to art history and their studio practice. In any educational community, it is easy to focus on quantifiable means of assessments; SAT, API and AP Art scores can provide clear “data” for the health of a school. SMMEF recognizes that these numbers are important, but cannot provide a complete picture of the school. SMMEF celebrates the ability of art, music, electives and athletics to engage students in learning and to exercise different parts of their brain. Through SMMEF I have acquired books and materials that have served hundreds of students. We urgently need the financial support that SMMEF provides for the Art Department; equally valuable is the sense of community support and the importance that SMMEF places on the arts.