As the current school year progresses, Arcadia High School (AHS) has welcomed new staff this year, ready to support the ever-increasing requirements and goals of the students. One of the new teachers who joined this school year is our new photography teacher, Ms. Annette Fierro.

After serving as a broadcast, design, and photography teacher at a previous school, as well as an art and dance instructor in the city of Riverside, Ms. Fierro joins the visual arts department as one of our photography teachers. Her teaching style is to provide skills her students will find applicable to any job application as well as to provide interactive projects to expose her students to new techniques.

Ms. Fierro enjoys the relevance and technical and artistic aspects of photography and finds teaching photography to students both interesting and challenging.

“A big reason why I like teaching photography is because I think it’s so relevant in many different industries,” Ms. Fierro commented. “You can teach it, and there’s so many aspects of it that make it interesting for students. There’s the art perspective on it, which is an art form, there’s also a business aspect of it; you can use it for business. It’s an awesome tool to help students learn how to be social and be comfortable behind and in front of the camera and help them work together with creative problem solving.”

When it comes to teaching style, Ms. Fierro teaches in a way that is both hands-on and open-ended, with a lot of projects to teach and encourage her students’ creativity. She also wants to help make students more socially confident as well as independent, as well as giving students room to experiment with the class without a fear of failure.

“I like giving the opportunity to let kids mess up and be okay with that, since it’s going to happen in real life, so I like to relate my class to the real world. My teaching style is preparing for when I won’t be around anymore.”

Ms. Fierro chose to teach at AHS because she believed that she would be valued and also be able to grow. In addition, she explains how the motivation of the students and support system of teachers make it a great working environment for a permanent teacher.

If you go on their website, one of the things listed is that they focus on keeping high quality teachers; going out, scouting them, and then keeping them,” Ms. Fierro said. “I like the environment, I think it’s a good challenge for students; just knowing that the standard is really high for students and teachers, and I feel more at home in that type of environment that has a high standard,” Ms.Fierro further comments.

Lastly, she encourages everyone interested in visual arts to expose themselves to any art medium or practice, find their niche, and discover a way to apply it.

“Put in the work to put in your own collection of work; whatever it is, just do it,” Ms. Fierro says. “Also, constantly practice it, because all of these industries, like real estate, automotive, and business, have many opportunities in any art form; it’s just a matter of finding your niche and passion, and why you do it.”

Overall, as the school year continues, we hope that the teachers and students find their meaning and value as they mature into their professions in high school. Let’s give all of the new teachers here a warm welcome to AHS, and we wish them the best of their teaching careers as well as making new memories here. Welcome to AHS!

Photos by Ainsley Najafzadeh