Lakewood High School held an exhibit in the art atrium Monday, Dec. 15, to showcase the new pARTners art course. The class debuted at the start of the 2025-26 school year to connect students in the MILES unit with their general education peers.
The MILES unit, located in the C-wing, serves students with special education needs. These classrooms can often feel isolated from the rest of the campus. The pARTners program aims to bridge that gap, reminding the community that all students are here to learn and grow together.
Dayna Hansen, a Lakewood art teacher for 10 years, founded the program after researching a similar initiative by Michelle Surrena at Stow-Munroe Falls High School. After running trial classes, Hansen approached MILES teachers with the idea. Since then, the pARTners art class has become a fixture of the fine arts department.
In the course, general education and special education students are paired to collaborate on various projects. The curriculum is structured to allow for creative freedom while providing support. Hansen says teachers “find ways to modify lessons and make it possible for everyone to do art.” Throughout the semester, students rotate partners to build confidence and strengthen peer relationships.
The program explores several mediums, including paint, chalk and paper. Jess David, a teacher in the MILES unit, has watched the students’ skills evolve. “They started out with kind of simple, basic projects, and then we see the more complex things they did towards the end of the semester,” David said. Projects progressed from basic sketches to complex leaf paintings and collages.
The atrium exhibit is a culmination of the semester’s work and a public display of the students’ talents. “The creation of this exhibit is to find a way to share all of the great things that we’re doing in this course with our community of staff and students,” Hansen said. The exhibition also functions as a portion of the students’ final exam grade.
Students were invited to visit the exhibit during any period throughout the week. The displays featured both individual pieces and collaborative works created by the partners.
The pARTners course represents a step toward a more cohesive campus. In a school as large as Lakewood, general education students may go four years without interacting with the special education department. This program changes that dynamic.
The program will continue into the spring semester and beyond. “It’s not labor intensive, like you really just show up and it’ll be fun,” said Amy Vogli, a senior who joined the course for credit and found herself enjoying the experience.
The pARTners teachers are currently seeking more students to enroll for the upcoming spring semester. As Hansen noted, “Art is for everyone, you can pick up art at any stage of life and with any ability and make beautiful things and make the world more beautiful.”
