For the first time next year, the school will offer AP Studio Art for students who have a deep interest in the subject and are interested in art as a profession, art teacher Diana Vanry said.

According to assistant principal Brian Safine, the class will be available for students who have completed Art 4 Honors or have “otherwise shown very exceptional abilities.”

The art department does not anticipate a large number of AP Studio Art students, so the class will be held at the same time as another art period. It will specifically help students prepare artwork for college portfolios and competitions.

“[A student has] to produce 30 works — 12 [of which] are related, 12 [of] which you consider your best artwork and six [of] which are very different to represent your skill in different media,” Vanry said. “All of these are to make up your portfolio which you turn in to CollegeBoard.”

Sophomore Laura Chaland, a current Art 3 student who plans to take AP Studio Art when she is a senior, said that she hopes that the class will “give students more freedom [to] develop [their] own art style, which is always important.”

Because the course offers AP credit, Chaland said, it will help students feel talented and push them to improve.

“I know [the class] will make me want to keep on improving, and it's good practice too,” Chaland said.