If I had to choose a song to describe my experience at ChiArts, especially my senior year, I would choose “I Know the End” by Phoebe Bridgers. My high school experience has been full of beginnings and ends, although that’s expected. I’ve gone through two different friend groups, and my senior year I tried to stay away from having a singular group of friends. The beginning and ending of things seemed unnecessary for my senior year, but it happened anyway. I hoped to keep the same relationships that I started with, but instead some ended, and some began, and I think the biggest lesson that ChiArts has taught me is that change will always come, and it’s better to accept it than fight it.
The nature of ChiArts makes you become incredibly close with the people around you. Because of the long school day, and because ChiArts doesn’t really have that many students, you begin to get tired of people. There’s only a hundred-something students in the senior class, and even if you haven’t talked to everyone, you probably know who everyone is. ChiArts can be an incredibly stifling place both socially and academically, and I think that’s one of the biggest reasons so many ChiArts students end up hating it.
Most people end up hating their high school by the end of it, but I think it’s especially prominent here. Yes, we signed up for this intense arts education. But three hours a day, five days a week, for every day of the school year for four years burns people out quick, even if it’s something they love doing. I know so many people who never plan to do their art once they get out of high school. I honestly love the concept of ChiArts. I think it’s a great opportunity and I’m grateful that I was able to have the experience. I wanted to go here since I was in sixth grade, and I cried when I got in. But I think that there needs to be breaks. Opportunities to take a class in a different conservatory when you’re an upperclassmen, no conservatory on Wednesdays, maybe even a 4:30 PM ending time, all of these small things would make ChiArts much more bearable, and I’m not the only one who thinks this.
Overall, I have mixed feelings about my experience here. It made me who I am, and I don’t regret attending this school, but there were things that I hated and almost destroyed me at the same time.
