Arts and Thomson

By Sarah Ahmed

With winter in full blast, David and Mary Thomson's best assets come into play. All the leadership groups fill the days with various entertaining activities, and social awareness groups such as STATIS do their part by promoting charities and appealing to the hearts of the student body. Athletics is thrives with winter sports such as archery, badminton, volleyball and ice hockey. Sadly, the creative aspect of Thomson never has the chance to shine among all these.

David and Mary Thomson, as great a school as it is, never reveals the talented arts student it has. There are only four clubs offered to students looking to quench their creative thirst. There is clay club, which explores the art of making sculptures and continues weekly with it's motto of 'getting dirty'. There is also 'creative hands' for the ever so crafty students. For the actors and stand-up comedians, there is improv; a group of very talented and witty students, who have competed well in inter-school competitions. And lastly, there is band, directed by Mr. Brown and Ms. Carter, it encompasses of the musically talented students of the school.

Even with these great opportunities, the creative side of the student body is heavily downplayed. No artist has their work appreciated, no actor is able to play with the emotions of his audience, nor is any musician able to move the hearts of his listeners with music. More focus is put on leadership and athletics and those are the activities that Thomson is known for now. Surprisingly, before Thomson was only popular due it's awesome plays. Now there is only one play in production and it is a wonder how many students know about it. Why aren't there as many plays as before? Ms. White, a teacher who has been in this school for many years, said 'Before we had around 2600 students, which is double what there is now. All those students brought in the audience and filled up the whole auditorium. To have a play you need a full auditorium. Half-filled feels like half empty to the actors and is discouraging. So, most of the plays now are held in room 112.'

Actors might not be able to get the auditorium-filled audience they dream of, but what about the artists? There are bulletin boards around the first floor, displaying art work but an art show is not too much to ask, is it? To this, Ms White, replied,' I would love to have a art show. I would love to fill up those empty walls with the beautiful paintings we have. But the problem is with protecting the paintings. If we can't get the paintings fully bound in glass frames, students can damage them.' However, there is a talk about turning a classroom into a studio, as an acknowledgment of the artists' works.
Thomson has many students with various talents to boast of, if only given the opportunity. The leader and the athlete had their chance, now it is time for the actor, the author, the musician and the artist to have their say.