Making a Difference: Arts in the Classroom

Samantha Patterson loves her music class. Since the start of the year, she and her classmates have practiced playing the cello and the violin. The class is part of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District’s Curriculum.

But because of budget cuts it was only offered to fourth and fifth graders, until now. Cal Fire firefighter Johnathan Pangburn has been volunteering his time to bring arts education to the classroom. He says as a parent he wanted to help with offerings, not only for his own child, but throughout the entire district.

Pangburn teamed up with other parents and the Community Foundation for Monterey County to create the MPUSD Fund for Arts Committee. Their goal, raise money to bring all aspects of art, theater and music to the 10,786 students in the district. Since fundraising began in November, the group has raised more than $65,000.

“Arts is an extremely important foundation to learning for our children. They teach you ways to be creative and help people find their niche” says Pangburn.

The committee will review applications, raise and distribute funds equitably throughout all three of MPUSD’s learning communities. The initial focus will be geared toward elementary schools with the intent to serve the entire TK-12 school district.

That also means teachers will be able to have assistance in support for arts education, including visuals, performing, music, murals and more. That’s helping to make a difference by fostering a child’s love for learning.

If you’d like to learn more about making a contribution, you can visit, www.cfmco.org/mpusd.com.