Owen N

What did you study at PMAC? I take guitar lessons with Nick Phaneuf.

Can you describe a specific moment or experience within the arts that profoundly impacted you during your time as a PMAC student? It’s hard to decide, but off the top of my head I recall a specific moment I found very gratifying: at the end of a lesson we had a while back, we were working on some improvisation in the key of G minor, and I played a solo. After which he said something along the lines of “There’s things to work on here, but this is so, so much better than it was when you first walked in the door.” That was at a point where I felt like I was really stagnating musically, so it was a good reminder of how much progress we can make, slowly and incrementally, until we remember to look back and see how far we’ve all come.

How do you plan to continue your engagement with the arts in the future? I’m probably going to buy more guitars (and practice them every once in a while as well, I guess). I’ll also continue playing the cello, and maybe even take a drum lesson.

What are you most excited about for the coming year after high school? Attending UMass Amherst in the fall will be great, but seeing Queens of the Stone Age two nights in a row in September will be even better.

Declan N-H

What did you study at PMAC? I took guitar lessons with Nick Phaneuf. I did the Rock and Beyond Summer Workshops and also the school year Teen Rock Bands for 3 years. I also took drum lessons with Mike.

Can you describe a specific moment or experience within the arts that profoundly impacted you during your time as a PMAC student? I moved to Portsmouth during Covid. It was a hard time to meet people. By joining the PMAC bands, I got to meet a lot of other kids who liked music. PMAC made me appreciate music even more.

How do you plan to continue your engagement with the arts in the future? I plan to take music classes in college, and maybe I’ll join a band.

What are you most excited about for the coming year after high school? (if you’d like to share your work and/or education plans, you are welcome to do so.) I’m excited to go to Elon University. They have really good music facilities, and that’s part of what drew me to Elon.

Devon T

What did you study at PMAC? Piano with Ginna Macdonald; Visual Arts and Drawing with Aris Moore

How do you plan to continue your engagement with the arts in the future? I am planning to continue art lessons at PMAC and explore digital arts and animation

What are you most excited about for the coming year after high school? I am looking forward to exploring career opportunities and getting more involved with my community.

Peter W

What did you study at PMAC? I studied upright bass with Nate Therrien for 5.5 years. I also studied art with Aris Moore.

Can you describe a specific moment or experience within the arts that profoundly impacted you during your time as a PMAC student? I am grateful to Nate for working with me to make sure I got into the all state music festival all throughout high school. Aris Moore also worked with me to complete my architecture portfolio. 

How do you plan to continue your engagement with the arts in the future? I am going to continue to play bass and I am going to be architect. 

What are you most excited about for the coming year after high school? I am attending Roger Williams University as an architect major. I am excited to learn more about architecture.