by Felicia DeInnocentiis|Staff Writer
Recently added to Johnson extracurriculars is the “Last Friday” club, which invites students who enjoy both art and literature. The subjects are combined to help students gain a better understanding of the current English topics and themes discussed during class.
“We learn english through art,” senior Mell Perez said. “We’re given a topic, like for example, Halloween. We’re given the topic of gore because we read Beowulf. So if I wanted to do “gore” I could do somebody bleeding and we explain what in the painting or the picture signifies the meaning of the theme, and how the elements of art, as elements of english [coordinate].”
The club was initiated by english teacher Daniel Farias, who wishes to delve deeper into these various themes with his students outside of class, in a creative manner.
“It’s open to any student interested. From 4:15 to 5:15 [after school] and 8:00 to 8:45 [in the morning]. It’s art on a fast track,” Farias said.
The club will have its first meeting Friday, October 28 in Farias’ room, and will continue to meet every last Friday of each month. The first meeting will consist of decorating Farias’ door for Halloween.
“Anybody can do it, it’s really cool,” Perez said. “I really want to go because I’m that kind of person [who] can’t express opinions through writing.”
For Farias’ students, the academic upside of attending these meetings is that five points are added to an english quiz grade. Students need not worry about their level of artistic talent or literary skills for this club, just actively participating is sufficient. For now, the club is an incentive directed toward Farias’ own students, but will hopefully gain popularity amongst fellow teachers.
“We’ll probably try to make it bigger later, maybe get one of the art teachers [to join],” Farias said.