Recent stories in the Beach & Bay Press (“Hard Work of parents and teachers keeps Mission Bay Cluster successful”) and Voice of San Diego (“The Learning Curve; Mission Bay High is still San Diego Unified’s Least Local High School”) described the many years of hard work, proactive planning and dedication by teachers, parents, and school district staff to create programs at the elementary schools, PB Middle, and Mission Bay High that not only keep local students in PB schools but also to attract hundreds of students from all over the district into the Mission Bay Cluster.

The high school music program, athletics, and the International Baccalaureate Program are frequently cited as distinct features of Mission Bay High that attract students from local feeder schools as well as from other district clusters. There is another academic program responsible for attracting students to Mission Bay. The art program.

The art program’s two teachers, Diane Parrish and Heather Henkes are experienced art teachers at Mission Bay High. Henkes teaches Art 1-2, the beginning art experience for incoming freshmen. Of the five students interviewed in Ms. Henkes’s freshman class, four of the students were from outside the cluster.

Parrish is the instructor for the art students pursuing the IB Program in 11th and 12th grade. The IB Program is a challenging, rigorous sequence of courses across six curricular areas: English, world language, individuals and societies, experimental sciences, mathematics, and the arts. Coursework is completed and evaluated at a high level in all six areas during a student’s junior and senior years at Mission Bay.

For students attending the cluster feeder schools, the IB Program can start in elementary school (offered at Sessions Elementary) and continue at PB Middle. The IB Program is also offered to all students starting at Mission Bay from outside the cluster.

“I conduct tours of our high school several times a year. Each tour is filled with parents interested in their student attending Mission Bay,” said Tracy Borg, IB coordinator at Mission Bay High.

“They want to know about all of the opportunities available for their student. Mission Bay is one of only two schools in the entire district that offers the IB Program. It is a very challenging diploma program. In many ways, it is far more demanding than Advanced Placement course work.”

In Parrish’s IB Art class, three students, a junior and two seniors have committed to the IB Program. Their IB Art work requires 10-12 original art pieces completed by the end of their senior year. Included in the successful completion and evaluation of each final piece is the student’s required Process Portfolio.

“The Process Portfolio is where the student documents the entire journey of each art unit, from the investigations of art history, practice with certain media, initial ideas for the artwork they want to create, and reflections on the entire process,” Parrish said. “A curatorial essay and statement of intent is also required for each artwork completed. A minimum of one new art piece is due every 3-4 weeks. Upcoming units of study this year include digital portraits, acrylic portrait paintings, contextual art, and jewelry making.”

Mission Bay junior IB Art student, Marco Trone, started at Mission Bay in ninth grade after attending School of the Madeline. Trone said he can be inspired by “My surroundings and the environment I find myself in. I like to take my sketchbook outside and draw the nature around me.”

Trone prefers to work in watercolor paints. When asked if as an artist he works in defined periods or bursts of inspiration, he said: “I like to work in bursts, whenever I feel inspiration or feel motivated to create. However, taking art classes has taught me to be able to work in more defined periods.”

Senior IB Program student, Emma Jo Grohn, also enrolled in Parrish’s IB Art class, completed her first set of original art pieces last year as a junior with Parrish. Grohn’s comprehensive art portfolio theme is still developing.

“The working theme I have based my previous works on is “nature.’ However, I am deliberating if I should begin to focus my artwork on more specific areas such as ‘adventure’ or ‘the ocean.’ I came across that theme after completing a wide range of works that all had that commonality. As I do more I will see how it changes and develops.”

Senior Sophie Jetzer Gagneux’s portfolio theme is “Conveying Emotion Through Faces and Figures.” Jetzer Gagneux explained that she decided on her theme last year, about a third of the way through her junior year with Parrish.

“I decided on my theme based on the pieces I had begun to create, basically letting my work tell me its theme. I love to draw people and faces, and wanted to challenge myself to use them to convey different emotions,” Jetzer Gagneux said.

Next spring, the seniors pursuing the IB Program enrolled with Parrish will develop a slide presentation, perhaps 15-30 slides, that will document their two years of artwork and process. Jester adds, “The slide presentation will be sent off to an IB grader somewhere in the world and then I will receive a grade.”

In the spring of 2024, the senior IB Art students will have an on-campus gallery exhibition of their work from their junior and senior years. Each student will share with the public their successful two-year journey as an art student at Mission Bay High. Plan on attending this special evening.

The Mission Bay Cluster Committee is comprised of interested parents, teachers, school administrators, and Pacific Beach community members at large that have a continuing interest in the activities and projects regarding PB schools. The Mission Bay Cluster includes Barnard Mandarin Magnet Elementary, Sessions Elementary, Crown Point Junior Music Academy, Pacific Beach Elementary, Pacific Beach Middle, and Mission Bay High.