Corner Canyon High senior Ben Perry has seen first-hand how the creative power of art can build bridges, strengthen connections, stir emotion — and inspire healing. 

The Charger student body officer whose main responsibility is to add flair and shine to posters publicizing student activities has dedicated more than 150 volunteer hours doing arts and crafts with children at Primary Children’s Medical Center. 

“It’s been a really cool experience,” says Perry, who visits the hospital’s playroom weekly to bring color to the lives of children who, for whatever reason, find themselves at the hospital.

Perry has spent quite a bit of time at CCHS honing his artistic talents and skills in such classes as 3D and 2D design, graphic design, digital art, and photography. 

“There are a lot of different hobbies and classes I took that I didn’t necessarily have a big interest in but wanted to try out,” he said. “I think that helped me discover what I’m interested in, in life.”  

Perry’s first days at Corner Canyon in fall 2020 were shaped by the health precautions of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was an atypical start to the rites of passage marking a typical high school experience, but it taught the Class of 2024 how to quickly adapt to change. 

It also made them value being physically present at school, surrounded by friends, talking face-to-face with teachers, and carrying on the traditions set by classes that went before them. 

“We kind of set the precedent. I think, as a class, we had a lot of pressure to bring back that old example of what we saw from our upper classes and show the newer classes because they’d never had that experience,” said Perry, who plans to study linguistics and computer science at the University of Utah. 

As for future graduating classes, whose time at CCHS didn’t begin with social distancing and hand sanitizer, Perry hopes they immerse themselves in their studies and extracurriculars. Perhaps because of the seemingly endless upheaval in his freshman year, such as the sudden switches to online learning at home, he sagely advises future Chargers to shrug off worries that come from stressors outside of their control. 

“A lot of people are worrying about a lot of things when they don’t need to. I think if you don’t have that pressure, you’ll look back on your senior year and remember it a lot more fondly if you’re not so stressed the entire time and just let things happen. Be who you want to be from the beginning.”