Photo: Carrboro HS Theatre Production of Clue

It's Also Required

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Graduation Requirement
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools graduation requirement includes six credits of electives, two of which must be any combination of CTE, Arts, or World Languages. See the complete list of graduation requirements.

NC Arts Education Graduation Requirement
Beginning with 6th graders in 2022, the state of North Carolina will require one credit of arts education (visual art, music, theatre, or dance) in grades 6-12 for high school graduation.

College & Beyond

• Colleges love well rounded students with a variety of arts and extracurriculars.

• You can earn Honors and AP credits in the arts.

• Develop a portfolio that can be used for college admission.

• Have access to arts scholarships.

• Develop pre-professional job skills to prepare you for a career in the arts.

• Develop a talent, skill, or hobby that can be a healthy social and emotional outlet for your whole life.

• Develop a fun side gig that can earn extra money.

Well Rounded Students Need

• • Cultural Awareness
    Cultural awarenesss is an important life skill. Learn to understand people and cultures through the arts. How do the arts represent our values and traditions? How do they reflect important issues and events? What motivates people to do the things they do?

  • Broad Knowledge
    Develop broad knowledge that helps you better understand the big picture and fit the pieces together. Make connections between things that seem unrelated. People with broad knowledge are also better at reading comprehension.

Use Your Whole Brain

• • Multiple Intelligences
    Almost all real world tasks require you to use a combination of many kinds of intelligence. You may have linguistic intelligence, mathematical/logical intelligence, musical intelligence, visual-spatial intelligence, kinesthetic/physical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, or intrapersonal intelligence. We develop all of these in the arts. There is so much more to your brain, why not learn to use it!

  • Brain Connections
    There is increasing evidence that learning to play a musical instrument develops connecting neural pathways, and coordinates all parts of the brain to work together. Playing an instrument requires a combination of fine motor skills, affective response, and cognitive reasoning. There is even evidence that playing in instrument is linked to improved executive functioning and memory.

Other Skills You Might Use

• • Sensory Awareness
    Learn to look and listen carefully, and pay attention to many kinds of details in projects, people, and things. Medicine and other scientific fields sometimes require students to take drawing courses so that they learn to observe carefully. Music teaches you to listen carefully to subtle differences, an important concept for language development.

  • Presenting Yourself to the World
    In the performing arts, music, theatre, and dance, you develop awareness of the way you present yourself, including public speaking, diction, vocal projection, body language, facial expressions, movement, and interactions with others.

  • Visual Thinking
    Visual thinking helps you communicate effectively, like creating a flyer, slide show, video, display, or website. It can even be handy in daily life, like picking out your clothes, landscaping, or decorating your home. It is also useful in a variety of careers, like architecture, engineering, and video design.

  • Project Management
    Learn to think about the big picture and understand how lots of parts intersect. Learn to set goals, manage time, be accountable to others, and meet deadlines. There are many opportunities to develop leadership and collaboration skills.