Schaumburg High hosts second annual MC Art Show

Schaumburg High School's Special Education and Art departments paired up for the second annual MC Art Show at the school March 22. The art show is entirely comprised of works created by the school's MC students.

Art Department Chairman Gerry James said the MC Art Program allows the students to express themselves using adaptive means.

"The MC students come up to the art room for an hour per day, where they get the opportunity to express themselves in ways different from ways they can any other way throughout the day," he said.

"A lot of our students, because of their physical disabilities, have to express themselves through tactile or sensory means," added Julie Mojica-Castro, a special-education teacher at Schaumburg.

"We try to build in stuff they can feel, stuff they can smell, or things they can push with their hands."

The theme for this year's event was collaboration. Each student created works on larger canvasses that were then cut into sections. The students then selected pieces from all works and pieced them together into a final collaborated work.

James said that one of the goals of the art show was to get the MC students out of the classroom to interact with other Schaumburg High School students.

"One of our goals this year was to increase their awareness in the building and increase their interaction," he said.

Donna Chimis, mother of senior Matt Chimis, said that the intermingling between her son and the general education students has been a goal for him since his first day of high school.

"The mingling between kids that have needs and the general population has been just the most beautiful thing to watch as they get to know each other because of a show like this," she said.

"When I first came to this high school, this was my dream for Matthew, that he fits into the rest of this community. Just by what the art show has done, this is what every parent dreams."

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