Middle school students from Plato Academy Clearwater spent a day at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, exploring art, architecture, and history alongside their art teacher Michelle Emery and music teacher Ali Thorsen, according to a report from Plato Academy Largo Charter School.
The school reported that students split into two museum guide-led groups and moved through the Museum of Art’s original 21 galleries, where the Rubens cycle of monumental canvases drew a long pause from many who had never stood before a painting taller than they were. The group also toured Ca’ d’Zan, the Ringlings’ 1920s winter residence, which features a pipe organ and is frequently the part of the estate students talk about on the ride home.
The visit included the Bayfront Gardens and the Circus Museum with the Tibbals Learning Center, where the Howard Bros. Circus Model reconstructs a 1920s and 1930s traveling circus at three-quarter inch scale. The school noted that the walk between buildings gave students and chaperones time to process what they had seen.
Plato Academy Clearwater is one of eight tuition-free public charter school campuses across the Tampa Bay region offering Modern Greek language and a classical curriculum, the report stated.
For more information, visit platoacademy.net.