H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program junior Nicole Dobbins has completed the 2016–17 National Gallery of Art High School Seminar. The competitive program, which accepts only 15-18 applicants per year, introduces DC-area high school students to art history, museology, and museum careers.

Dobbins was sponsored by her art teacher Faylinda Kodis and was part of a group of advanced art students from 14 different high schools around the DC region. Dobbins studied the theme of Signs as seen in Robert Indiana’s Jesus Saves (1972) and Puccio di Simone and Allegretto Nuzi’s Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints and Angels, and Saints Anthony Abbot and Venantius (1354). Students also learned about museum careers through behind-the-scenes visits to a variety of museum departments, such as exhibition design, curatorial, and education.

The High School Seminar at the National Gallery is a 10-session program that runs from October 2016 to February 2017. Students lead their families, friends, and teachers on thematic tours of the galleries at the program’s culminating event on February 25.

First piloted in the spring of 1992, the High School Seminar marks its 25th anniversary in 2017. Over the years, the program has evolved in response to the changing needs and interests of the participants and approaches to museum learning. To date, more than 500 students and 150 sponsoring teachers have participated in the program. To learn more about the High School Seminar, visit nga.gov/highschool. The High School Seminar is a program of the Gallery’s division of education.