Between AP Studio Art’s gentle brushstrokes, Advanced Sculpture’s earthly clay, and Graphic Design‘s professional software, it can be hard to imagine that the NPHS Visual and Practical Arts Department wasn’t always as well supported as it is now.

But according to Mrs. Florencio, the Department Head and AP art teacher, there weren’t nearly as many options for the artistically inclined.

“When I came here six years ago, there was a drawing class, a painting class, a photography and graphic design class, and that really was it for the fine arts,” she said.

Since Florencio started teaching here six years ago, she has worked tirelessly to advance the program. The Art Department has added AP Art History and AP Studio Art 3D to the curriculum, increased the number of sculpture offerings, and revisited and revamped the middle school art program.

“All those updates in programming take time to really see what the next step should be. Everything that I’ve set out to do, the District has been supportive and I’ve been allowed to do so.”

The diverse range of art offerings, all with their own unique materials and tools, makes art classes an expensive endeavor, often more so than other subjects. As a result, recent budget cuts have left many worried about the future of art at NPHS.

“The big difference is a lot of things have gone up in price, so that makes the budget even tighter,” according to Florencio.

Despite these challenges, Florencio insists that students have not been affected by the sudden loss of resources:  “Technically, on paper, the cuts would affect our budget, but I just placed orders as I would. Everything that we’ve needed for classes we were able to order, even though it wasn’t part of the original budget we had at the beginning of the year.”

While Mrs. Florencio has been modernizing and pushing the art department forward for the past 6 years, she has no plans on stopping anytime soon, even in spite of budget cuts.

”Not everything I have set out to do has come to fruition yet. But these things, they haven’t stalled, they’ll just take longer. I would like everything right now, but it just doesn’t work that way,” she said.