Spark Week is from April second to the fifth. Teachers running this year’s Spark Week have made sure to make it as enjoyable as possible for students. They want to make sure the artists that are presenting can be relatable and guide North’s students on the opportunities and jobs that can be landed after graduating high school.
Teachers want to get as much opinions and information from North staff and people from schools nearby to get the best people to present for students at North.
“One, it can come from our own research, like maybe we’ve looked into somebody we think would be great to talk to kids, a local artist, something we’ve seen online, something that we’ve seen ourselves. It can come from a recommendation from staff, which is where a lot of ours come from, believe it or not,” said organizer Tom New.
Instructors are looking to bring in new ideas for Spark Week such as holding or attending events outside of school. They want to make sure students can see firsthand the careers that they’re interested in.
“We went and did some classes at the Chicago Film Institute. There were a lot of people there who had a 100 percent day job working with companies. I would love to take students, maybe to a specific class or just some kind of enrichment activity, or go down to a video production company,” New said.
Since Spark Week was made, the people involved have made sure to have adversity as a key component. The events and projects vary from writing to careers in art and art production.
“When we first started, it was definitely more writer-oriented. I think since I’ve been doing it, we’ve pushed to widen the scope of what could fall under the Spark Week umbrella,” said organizer Randy Sweitzer.
Many people helping out with Spark Week are looking to bring their dream artists to present at Grayslake North. They are trying their hardest to have the best people for North students to see in person and engage with.
“The art departments have talked about it, and my dream is to get Linda Berry who is a writer, artist, comic, comic book, and illustrator. She now teaches at the University of Wisconsin. She teaches about creativity,” Sweitzer said.
