The Art Honor Society is a well-known and loved club here on campus. The club meetings happen every other Wednesday and are run by the art and photography teachers, Ms. Peters and Mrs. Athos, respectively. The club currently has about 28 members, but it is by invitation only. Students need to be a sophomore, junior, or senior that is enrolled in an art class at WSHS, and they must also maintain a GPA of 3.0. When asked why she decided to co-create this club, Ms. Peters replied her dream was to “showcase the amazing art talent in WSHS and to demonstrate to the club members that it is important to share your talent with others.” While Mrs. Athos said, “I became a sponsor with Ms. Peters in 2016 for the National Art Honor Society. She had been running the club alone before I joined her. It’s been a great way to work with the community and create different types of art together.” 

The students involved enjoy this club because it gives them great opportunities for college, while also being therapeutic and is a space for all students to feel free and have their creativity flow. Even so, art and this club have impacted the teachers involved just as much as their students. According to Ms. Peters, her favorite style of art is sculpting and textiles, which also happens to be her favorite kind of art to teach her students because she enjoys challenging her students to perform at a college level with their work. While Mrs. Athos, however, enjoys abstract art and surrealism because she loves being able to express her mood or feelings through symbolism. Mrs. Athos also included that her “favorite thing to teach is the darkroom.” She replied that she loves it because of “the history of it. I enjoy seeing students discover a new style that they love! Understanding the darkroom and working with film helps to deepen their knowledge of digital photography.” 

The club is also currently preparing for the Annual Senior Art Exhibition held at Rollins Museum of Art. The club sponsors the show for all of the seniors in art classes with Ms. Peters, Mr. Dycus, and Mrs. Athos. In the past, the club has done projects with the WS Police Department, Layer, Winter Springs, and Walker Elementary Schools. Although it is important for the students to have fun and enjoy creating art, one goal for the art club according to Mrs. Athos is that she and Ms. Peters always “wants the students to be involved with our school and with the community by introducing them to different styles of art. When we work with the Elementary schools that feed into WSHS, it gets the younger kids excited to come here and join our program and club.” This club has not only been an inspiration to the students and teachers involved but to the community as well.