By Bishop Foster

The Animation & Film class, new to Collegiate’s arts curriculum in the Upper School, is a class taught by new Upper School arts teacher Sarah O’Leary. As a student in this class, I participate in many projects involving animations and turning them into films. The class uses apps such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Animate. So far in the class, we have created GIFs and are working on creating a digital flipbook with characters we drew. Other major projects include: “Animation Overlay,” “Stop Motion,” and “Animated Short.”

O’Leary attended the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate with the intention that she would “move to New York City and just be an artist,” but after interactions with some of her peers and professors, she realized that “the art world can be quite arrogant and selfish.” Her experiences “didn’t align with my values or what I wanted to do in this world.”

O’Leary later began to take a student teaching class and worked at William L. Sayre High School in Philadelphia, where she did art with kids. “I realized that I really like working with kids, and I realized that I really like teaching art,” said O’Leary. She is very passionate about art and loves to help kids “who might not have access to or care about art,” which led her to become a teacher. Before arriving at Collegiate this fall, O’Leary had been teaching at Mercersburg Academy, a boarding school in Pennsylvania.

She described the Animation & Film class as “an art class that explores the discipline of animation as it relates to computer arts, and how film can be a medium that conveys stories, meanings, and emotions, and is a vessel for personal expression.”

Aaren Cooke (‘27), a student in the class, said, “The classroom has a very good environment, and the teacher gives really good feedback when you need help.” Xay Davis’s (‘25) agreed, “The environment is fun,” and “It is definitely easy to get help from the teacher when I need help.” Cooke enjoys the projects done in class and says, “it is all new to me, but it’s not too difficult to learn.” Davis commented on the workload of the class: “ I think it’s a reasonable workload, and we have time to finish the work in class.” Both students enjoy the class and would recommend it to other students.

My experience in the class so far has been enjoyable, and it is perfect for you if you are a creative thinker. This is a class where ideas that have sat in your head can come to life. The projects in this class are very engaging and challenge students to think. The environment is great and allows me to thrive in my work and get much done during class. If I struggle with any aspect of a project in this class, O’Leary is always available to help and get me back on the right track. I would recommend this class to students who are creative and want to be challenged and learn how to create films.

Featured image credit: Irwin Seating Company.