Willowdale art teacher Autumn Dowell highlights student work and family support

Autumn Dowell, the kindergarten-through-fifth-grade art teacher at Willowdale Elementary School in the Centennial School District, described her classroom programs, family volunteer support and a recent student art show in remarks recorded in the transcript.

Dowell said she has taught in the Centennial School District for 12 years and that educators and community ties — including having grown up in Bucks County and attending Penn State — inspired her to become an art teacher. "Ever since I was a little kid, my educators influenced me to wanna become an art teacher myself and attend Penn State," she said.

She credited families and colleagues at Willowdale with robust support for the arts, saying the home-and-school association and parents regularly come into the art room to help students with projects, pass out supplies and hang work around the school. "Whenever I need a lending hand, I can reach out to our home and school or parents," she said.

Dowell said her favorite part of the day is sharing artmaking with students and staff and that children show excitement when she displays artwork in hallways or greets them at the door.

She also described a collaboration with her first student teacher during the prior year. The pair organized a school-wide art exhibit at a local ShopRite grocery store that displayed work from kindergarten through fifth grade; Dowell said the event drew broad community turnout and was a memorable occasion for the school.

As a closing thought she said she hopes students and colleagues take away her passion for art and quoted a saying beginning, "the earth without art would just be," before the remarks end in the transcript.

No formal motions, votes or policy decisions were recorded in the provided transcript.