Amidst the neatly decorated art classroom lies the director: the cheerful and bright Madeline Picket. From a young age, Ms. Picket—who now teaches art and fashion design—has always enjoyed the freedom of expression of the arts.
“I’ve just always enjoyed and loved art so much. And then as I got older, I saw how important it was to humanity,” Ms. Picket said. “We’ve been making art since humans existed, so it’s gotta be important.”
Teaching is a great passion of Ms. Picket. In the classroom, watching students develop their sense of creativity throughout the year is her favorite part of her job.
“It’s so wonderful and it makes me so proud to be a teacher. Being able to help them advance their technical skills when they’re ready and want to, but then also giving them the free will to explore who they are and what they’re interested in,” Ms. Picket said.
For these reasons, she decided to pursue a career in teaching art and fashion design, hoping to help others find their own passions. After completing her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas at Austin, Ms. Picket is beginning her first year of teaching at Westwood. Originally from the Round Rock Area, she took an interest in teaching Arts and Fashion Design at Westwood after Teacher Observations.
“I got to see how awesome the art department here was and [got to] meet some of the teachers, and it just seemed like a really awesome environment to teach in,” Ms. Picket said.
Though it is unlikely the road ahead of her students will be as clear-cut as black and white, Ms. Picket hopes they will take away important life lessons from her class.
“There’s a lot of gray and nuance,” Ms. Picket said. “With creative thinking and persistence, they can get through a lot of things and they can get really creative with their solutions. They’re so capable of doing that.”
