By Chris Hagan
Statesman Journal
February 27 , 2007
Sprague art students Devin Marche (left) and Bridgette Schooler work in Monica Cavazos' class Feb. 21.
HOW TO HELP
Sprague art teacher Monica Cavazos is taking nine students to Europe in July. The group is collecting cans and accepting donations. To contribute or schedule a cans pick up, contact Cavazos at cavazos_monica@salkeiz.k12. or.us or Samantha Demchak at (503) 991-6858.
When Sprague art teacher Monica Cavazos told some select students they would have a chance to go to Europe this summer, they were overwhelmed.
A chance to see classic pieces of art while touring through Italy seemed too much.
"It's just an amazing way to end high school, going to Italy with our art class," said senior Devin Marche. "When we first found out, it didn't hit us until we started fundraising."
And while the students still can't find the words to describe their excitement, they also haven't been able to find their fundraising stride either.
The group of nine students has tried a number of different routes to come up with the nearly $3,000 needed per student.
Some ideas have been more successful than others.
"Our first idea, we made 'Worst Class Ever' T-shirts to sell to the senior class here," Marche said. "Those became a little controversial because people didn't like the idea of worst class ever, but it was kind of a joke."
The group then sold pizza during lunch, which netted $170.
On Feb. 16, they collected cans at the school, something all the members have been doing individually as well.
"We had trailers full of them about two pickup trucks full," said Samantha Demchak, whose son Alex, 18, is signed up for the trip.
That earned around $200, though the group is still planning on collecting cans until the money is raised.
"Being creative with fundraising ideas, trying to find something that hasn't been done a million times before that's hard," Cavazos said.
But the group isn't done. In May they'll be taking part in the Sprague Evening of the Arts.
Teachers and students sell their own pieces to raise money for the school art programs.
This year, Cavazos' students will have a table set up to sell cards featuring Italy to help the cause.
The number and variety of avenues to raise money is simply a reflection of how much the students want to go. For most, it will be a first trip to Europe.
Vinton Gregory, who also works at a local screen-printing shop, is ready to get a taste of art outside Oregon borders.
"It's hard to explain, it's so overwhelming," Gregory said. "You're going from just modest Salem art, like screen printing in a school, to Italy, this source of all this great art. It's such an awesome opportunity."
The opportunity came up when Cavazos decided to treat some students who have been with her for all her four years at Sprague.
"Some of these students, when I first got here, are now seniors," she said. "I thought this was a great opportunity to expose the students who had been with me for four years to this art."
This also will be the first European trip for Cavazos. She's eager to connect students to classical art through things they've studied in class and seen in their everyday lives.
"One of the things we've learned in graphics is that the logo for Starbucks, the twin-tailed siren, originated in Pompei," she said. "So we think it would just be so awesome to see where those things came from; to see that artwork in real life would be so amazing."
Cavazos pointed out that all the students selected have taken higher-level classes or are expecting to major in art in college.
Alex Demchak's exposure to Cavazos' art classes has influenced his career path.
"I shifted because I wanted to be a firefighter, then I wanted to be a civil engineer," Alex said. "After this class, it was like, oh, art could be cool.
"Then after four years, 'Hey, you get to go to Italy and see what everyone else can do.'"
chagan@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6743