South Lakes Teacher Wins ArtsFairfax Award

by Emma Ayres, Guest Writer

SLHS teacher Marco Rando accepted his reward on Oct. 24. Photo by Du Col Portraits

South Lakes High School art teacher Marco Rando accepted the ArtsFairfax Education Award on Oct. 24. The award honors artists who are “providing exceptional arts education opportunities and experiences,” according to ArtsFairfax.

Rando is the founder and sponsor of South Lakes’ STEAM Team, which creates public art for the community and organizes outreach programs in Reston. “STEAM is an amazing program that affords students a real-world experience as a consultant in an art and design corporation,” Rando said. Students in the club work directly with Public Art Reston, allowing them to learn the process for creating public works as a professional.

Rando attributes much of the program's success to the students in it. “We need everybody's different skills and talents to come together and collaborate to make this larger work of art that is meant to create a dialogue with the community,” Rando said.

Another aspect of the program is the constant cycle of students graduating and new students joining. “It's been amazing because each year the club morphs into its own energy entity because students are different,” Rando started, “Though they do the same sort of exercises [each year], it's always different, and that's what makes it exciting.”

Rando said he was “ecstatic” to learn he’d won the award for STEAM’s success. “I knew what ArtsFairfax was, but I had no idea their reach throughout the county,” he said. “I knew they amplified the arts in the county, but when I went to the ceremony and saw hundreds of people in the audience, I was blown away.”

The win affirmed the STEAM program’s mission over the past 14 years. “The award means that what we are doing is completely valid because students get to share their authentic voice to the community,” Rando said.

At the ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Reston, Rando was nervous about giving his acceptance speech before he realized that he would be surrounded by South Lakes administration and local politicians. “It was easier to be up on stage with all these people behind me because I just felt the support,” he said. “Of course I wrote out a script that I was going to follow. When I got there, I just felt like it's time to go off script and speak more from my heart.”

STEAM students were excited to hear of their teacher’s win. “He’s very invested and gets us all moving,” said Jaya Chatfield, STEAM TEAM’s student president. “He's very dedicated to what he does, and is good at getting people involved.”

Rando is excited about STEAM’s future. “The biggest kick I get is seeing people in the community. They'll approach me and ask ‘‘When's the next project?’ Now their expectation is “to see more of what the students can do,’” Rando said. “That's a huge feeling. It's just a warm, fuzzy feeling to know that that connection has been made to the community.”

“I appreciate the award, and I feel like I'm awarded every year getting to be part of the club,” he added.