Katie Kligys: Surpassing Her Peers

80 Miles – It’s a Long Way from Home

A Student at US Fine Art since age 4, educated under the CTA Curriculum System

Choosing a School for Your Kids Cannot be Based on Price

When Katie first started at US Fine Art, she was five years old. At the time, Katie’s mom really wanted to choose an art school that was proper in it’s academia but good for kids, going through dozens of schools before settling on US Fine Art. Even though they lived really far, over an hour of commute on the freeway alone, Katie’s mom insisted on driving from Torrance to US Fine Art. There were definitely art schools a lot closer to home, but convenience didn’t equal quality, didn’t have a CTA system with rigourous standards that would ensure the education of her child. US Fine Art held their teachers to a strict standard, choosing the best from the best. Finalists then had to go through a strict training and assessment process before being selected as teachers. As a school, US Fine Art spends a lot of their resources on finding the best teachers in the hopes of being able to provide the best education for the kids.

Katie’s old drawing

After a year training in US Fine Arts

 US Fine Art also had had a very strict attendance and absence policy, and Katie’s mom just happened to be the type who believed that a rigorously managed school lead to good results. For the first year or two, there didn’t seem to be much happening, but by the third year, a foundation-building focused education began to reveal it’s fruits. Compared to kids of the same age, Katie had far surpassed them, qualifying her as a project leader.

No Matter How Well You Rank in A Competition, It Still Does Not HelpYou Develop Creatively.

Katie’s journey at US Fine Art hasn’t been an easy one; Katie’s parents were very busy people, frequently unable to bring Katie to class on time, but they were insistent on bringing Katie despite of it. In the case that they were really unable to make it, they would definitely make it up at a later time.

Katie herself also really liked come to art class at US Fine Art. Her teachers would never focus on creating a “pretty” piece, nor was it their intention have the kids clone a piece of work for the sake of competition. After all, for competition focused kids, no matter how well they did, it did nothing for expanding their minds and growing their creativity.

US Fine Art teachers put a lot of time and effort into creating exciting lesson plans to fit a child’s needs. They communicate with the child to see what needs to be done to inspire a child’s creativity. Katie’s improvements are a clear example of this. Katie’s mom did at once point consider stopping her lessons. After all, the family was always so busy, and they did live so far. But after seeing her daughter improve time and again, stopping was never really a possibility. Instead, she brought along Katie’s little sister, Sophia Kligys, as well.
When we look at Katie’s works today, picturesque in it’s form, aesthetically pleasing in it’s color, layered with emotion, but most importantly, every piece of work is uniquely her own, possessing of her character and personality, guided by her imagination.
When Katie’s mom looks at these works, her efforts were worth it, after all.