A swarming mass of students and staff is a familiar sight most mornings in the passing-period rush to get to class. The predictability of chaos encourages the traveler to ignore and quickly brush past; yet this mindset betrays a hidden beauty. Wall mounts of hieroglyphics, graphics of life and vivid odes to physics, all this and more can be found with a closer look at the halls.

The fount of all these visions sprung forth from the arts at North. Recognition of the visual arts program as an institution of distinction, no less in all of Illinois, is an honor both astounding and well-deserved. As their award is conferred upon programs that uplift student learning, the average school year presents tape murals to display case ceramics to a vast winter exhibit. As distinction goes to those that connect communities, shows like Coffee House and MUSE invoke the visual and the performance, the school’s artists and their newly welcomed eyes, made eager to engage with both art and the life within the whole world’s stage.

Congratulations to the visual arts department for their accolade regarding all they have done for the school. The recognition of “School of Distinction” is well deserved.