By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer
Marlborough – Angela Chouinard developed an interest in art while attending Marlborough Public Schools. She’s now in her third year of teaching art in grades five through eight at 1LT Charles W. Whitcomb Middle School and working alongside some of her early mentors.
Reporting to work at her middle school alma mater sometimes feels surreal, she noted.
“Not only am I teaching in the same classrooms that I was once in as a student, but I’m also working with some of my former teachers,” she said. “It’s so cool because they get to see that their hard work has helped get me to where I am today.”
Chouinard was named the 2015 Exceptional New Art Educator of the Year by the Massachusetts Art Education Association. She was presented the award at a luncheon Nov. 8 during the association’s fall conference at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. In addition to the luncheon, she attended several workshops throughout the weekend.
“It’s so awakening to be around art educators with the same passion that you have and learn from each other,” she said.
She’s accustomed to being around educators because that’s the field in which some of her family members have worked. And as her interest in art grew while in high school, so did her desire to pursue a career as an educator.
“Going into my sophomore year at Marlborough High School, I started taking photography classes with the art teachers who are still currently working there, and I knew then that I wanted to be an art educator,” she explained. “They were the ones who guided me toward which schools to apply, how to attain what I wanted to do, and they’re really the reason why I’m here now.”
As a particularly influential mentor, Chouinard cites Kristi Oliver, her photography teacher who left her position in Marlborough this school year to begin teaching at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. It was at that university where Oliver and Chouinard each received an art education degree.
“The most valuable lessons I learned at UMass were to let the students express themselves, however that may be, and to always have an opened mind,” she shared. “With education, you sometimes have to be more than just a teacher; you have to be a mentor and a role model.”
The various art media she now teaches include clay, drawing and printmaking.
“There’s no photography,” she noted, “but with the technology our district has given us we’re now able to use our Chromebooks to take pictures and work with them on the computer.”
She especially appreciates teaching middle school students.
“It’s the most crucial age to get them into expressing themselves,” she said. “They’re still young enough where their mind has an imagination. Art is that venue that they can use to explore their emotions, careers and lives, and keep a living journal of what they were like at this age. The students in general are diverse, and I really enjoy all their different opinions and views. They’re so open to new ideas.”
Chouinard also feels fortunate to be working in the Marlborough school system.
“It’s an emotional investment for me being here,” she said. “We have such a great art department, great people working in all our schools and our programs are so strong. We’re really valued in the community. I’m so lucky to be here.”