With upbeat jazz melodies, colorful snack boards and yearbooks sprawled over tables, students celebrated graduating seniors who have spent four years in Palo Alto High School’s visual and performing arts program during PRIME today in the Media Arts Center.
This year, the Paly Arts Encore Senior Celebration highlighted all arts program seniors, 18 of whom are planning to pursue art majors in the future.
According to senior Ami Yamaguchi, the arts program at Paly allowed her to discover her passion.
“It [the arts program] was really cool because I’ve been in the dual arts of theater and choir for the last four years, so it’s really rewarding to be here,” Yamaguchi said. “[The Paly Arts Program] contributed a lot to who I am today. I thought I was a STEM kid, and then I was like, ‘No, this isn’t for me,’ and then I realized maybe arts and humanities are the things to go into. Through that, I found what I wanted to do.”
Junior Angela Fang, a volunteer, said the event was a great way to unite students from across the arts to celebrate each other.
“I didn’t expect this many people to be here who are parts of the arts program,” Fang said. “A lot of the time, I feel like the different segments of arts don’t collaborate or overlap, so it’s really cool to see everyone come together from their different specialties.”
Michael Veizades, co-director of instrumental music at Paly, said that his relationship with all the seniors at Paly feels bittersweet.
“This is my first year here, so it’s been really nice to get to know all these seniors,” Veizades said. “It’s kind of sad for me because I get to know them, and then they’re gone so soon, but they’re all incredible and are going to do incredible things, and it’s really cool to see that.”
Event and activities specialist Mariellen Klein said the main reason she wanted to help organize the event was due to her admiration for the arts program at Paly.
“I really appreciate the arts department, and there’s just a lot of heartwarming feelings when you look at art,” Klein said. “It [the arts program] is the best I’ve ever seen. Two of my daughters went to school in PAUSD and I’ve always been impressed with the arts program at Paly. That’s what kind of got me motivated and generated to be what I’m doing.”
