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On Friday November 30th, guest speakers came up from the University of Alabama to Bob Jones High School and spoke about the art and engineering program the college offers. Professors Daniel Livingston and Craig Wedderspoon and the Dean of Engineering Charles Karr spoke about how art and engineering correlate with one another.
Craig Wedderspoon teaches Sculpture, and Daniel Livingston teaches Ceramics in the Art department. Both explained how art and engineering programs go hand in hand. Dean of Engineering Charles Karr explained why it is more important to be whole -brained rather than being stronger in the left or right side of the brain. Students should try to be well-rounded.
“UA engineering education is different,” stated Dean of Engineering Charles Karr. The University of Alabama changed the program S.T.E.M., Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, and changed it to S.T.E.A.M., Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics. Instead of being polar opposites of each other, the Art and Engineering Department have collaborated with one another and discovered that Art and Engineering both go hand in hand and both require high-level thinking.
The engineering department offers art classes to their students to help develop their engineering abilities. Students measure and then draw an image; they then reverse what they are doing and draw the image again and calculate those measurements. Obviously, architecture and art both go hand in hand.
All of the guest speakers explained to the students to explore a major they enjoy. “Where do you want to go? Who do you want to be? What do you want to do?” Dean Charles Karr asked. These are important questions that help to map out student interests.
“Enjoy what you do …don’t settle for anything else,” shares Dean Karr, Professor Wedderspoon, and Daniel Livingston. Seeing real-world, practical connections between what students enjoy and what will earn a paycheck is important.
