Profiles: Cunningham finding her rhythm at Bearden

Bearden has welcomed Mrs. Victoria Cunningham as a brand new art teacher this year.

Mrs. Cunningham is from Churchill Middle School located outside of Kingsport, and she is making big plans to shake up the Bearden art department.

“I hope to bring a new perspective on art and photography that students may not have experienced before,” Mrs. Cunningham said.

“This first semester I have three different classes and all the students are at different levels so it has been a lot of work to stay up with that. A lot of planning is involved, but I know that it’ll eventually settle down and I can relax and enjoy the school year a little bit more.”

Mrs. Cunningham is a firm believer in individuality and encourages students to express themselves.

“She is trying to understand our individual styles and she is letting those of us who have done art longer and understand the techniques do what we want and independent study,” junior Elisabeth Nebenfuehr said.

Instead of assigning a set project for the whole class, Mrs. Cunningham lets the students come up with their own projects that she then assigns a due date to and looks over them one-on-one to help improve students.

Mrs. Cunningham’s transition from middle school has been challenging, yet rewarding.

“I now have the opportunity to teach more advanced classes, so the class sizes are smaller and I can focus more on individual attention,” Mrs. Cunningham said. “Before, in middle school, I had 35 kids in every class for 45 minutes, it was rushed, it was quick; so now I feel like I can build more of a relationship with the students.”