This week is National Arts in Education Week.

Trustees of the Ripon Unified School District, in celebration of recognizing the transformative power of the arts in education, brought in Nox Poortinga and Kilie Ann to mark the occasion.

Both are students in Dakota Bowers’ art classes at Ripon High. Poortinga, who has been taking art classes for the past three years, was encouraged to do her “best work.”

She displayed her recent pencil-shading work at the school board meeting held in the Council Chambers.

Kilie Ann has been involved in art “all of my life,” she said.

She brought two of her paintings, including one that’s still a work in progress.

Art for Kilie Ann is about self-expression.

National Arts in Education Week came to be in 2010.

That’s when Congress, through House Resolution 275, passed this week of celebration, designated to bring attention to this cause with help from elected officials and educational decision makers across the country.

Together, they support equitable access to the arts for all students.