By Annabel Simon, Staff Writer

As school starts again, we begin the regular Walter Payton tradition of signing up for our final forty-five-minute period known as enrichment. If you are a returning student, you might remember looking around at the enrichment options last year and feeling your options fell short of your expectations.

As diverse as our school is, the opportunities for students interested in humanities were few and far between. It is not due to a lack of interest (Payton Artists Club’s completely full attendance roster from their first meeting proves that). Is it at all possible that even at a varied school like Walter Payton, which is academically prestigious and has a manifold of class selections, STEM still triumphs over the arts?

While creatives are increasingly assimilated into science fields, especially with the uprising in AI “art” and a shortage in humanities-focused jobs, it is understandable for artists to feel undervalued and insignificant. Payton Artists Club is here to fix that.

According to club leader Luna Randall ‘29, Payton Artists Club is long overdue. “When I first came to Payton I was hoping to find art spaces with like-minded individuals, and I knew other artists, but there was nowhere we could collaborate,” Randall said. 

She was certainly not alone in her interest. From The Paw Print’s experience attending their first club meeting, the classroom was completely full, with several students having to be turned away due to signing up late. So why is Payton Artists Club the first and only visual arts club at Payton? According to Randall, “it is a nationwide problem. Artists are underpaid, undervalued… especially in the way of AI replacing so many arts jobs, it’s definitely a pattern.” 

With upticks in AI “art” reported by gallerists at 40%, the point isn’t fully unchecked. While this certainly does not imply that Payton is an anti-arts establishment, it does reflect some of the biases shown worldwide. For example, while a Pew Research poll reports that STEM majors are seen as “more practical” by approximately 71% of adults, the US census bureau tells us that in truth, both sectors end up making the same amount of money after a leveraging field of about ten years. 

Club leaders Randall and Aanya Mathew ‘28 are here to show our school that arts and humanities are just as worthwhile as their scientific counterparts. “I know last year I often felt like I was out of place at a lot of these clubs because there was just nothing that suited my interest,” Randall said. “I think if Payton wants to foster intelligence, growth, learning, passions and finding your own true path and excelling at it then there needs to be a space for artists.” 

And community is, at the very heart of things, what a high school experience is supposed to foster. While the arts issues going on right now — AI usage, job shortages and plagiarism to name a few — are important and complex, the message of Payton Artists Club remains simple. “Please join us if you’re interested in the arts. The more the merrier,” encourages Randall. 

Enrichments are every Tuesday with but one requirement from Randall: “Please add your member slide!”