AP Art History alumni tutor classes

Current and former students alike were caught off guard when they first heard that Chapel Hill Advanced Placement Art History (APAH) teacher Jack Watson would be leaving the high school in March to take a job at Durham School of the Arts (DSA).

“I was really upset because he’s been my mentor through my artistic process for almost two years now, and, without him, I knew we wouldn’t have anybody to get us through AP exams,” APAH student and Chapel Hill sophomore Kate Nelson said. “Not to mention that any other art teacher we [would] get wouldn’t be nearly as cool as him, just as a person.”

Substitute teacher Robert Linde was hired in March as Watson’s replacement for the remainder of the school year. However, since his background is in visual arts—not art history—former students have stepped in to fill in any gaps in instruction.

“I was [not only] sad because Mr. Watson [was] one of my favorite teachers, but also because I knew the APAH class would suffer,” junior Maeve Gualtieri-Reed said. “The class is basically Mr. Watson talking about art, and you can’t get the same effect reading out of a textbook.”

Former APAH students have been coming to classes to tutor current students a few days during the week, with senior Milly Ames and juniors Gualtieri-Reed, Sarah Ferriter and Maddie Wiener heading the tutoring efforts.

“[Ferriter, Ames] and I had started an art history club at the beginning of the year,” GualtieriReed said. “When we found out Mr. Watson was leaving, we decided that we wanted to help the class and adjust the club to help the current art history class.”

The idea was spurred on partially by their own memories of preparing for the APAH exam.

“[Ames, Gualtieri-Reed] and I came up with the idea [to tutor current students] after we found out that Mr. Watson would be leaving,” Ferriter said. “We thought it would be a good idea, because I know personally [that] I was really nervous for the exam, and I know some of the students in the class now are in that same situation.”

Current APAH students are grateful for the help.

“They’re all APAH alumni and know the content area really well, so they’re planning study sessions and they sit in through our classes to review with us,” Nelson said.

Study sessions normally entail going through the review book, holding discussions concerning essay questions, brainstorming pieces of artwork to talk about and familiarizing with them.

“I really appreciate how much effort they’ve put into helping us, and they’re extremely knowledgeable,” sophomore Laura Chaney said. “I think it’s a little bit hard, because the new exam is different from the previous versions, but they’ve been super helpful.”

With the AP exam coming up on May 3, tutoring efforts are ramping up. However, permanent substitute Robert Linde believes that the students will be well prepared.

“Taking over the AP Art History class from Mr. Watson has been a pleasure,” Linde said. “He prepared them so well up to that point, that along with the tutoring and the student’s intense self motivation, I am but a rarely needed resource.”

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