Provided to students since the early 1990’s, Screen Printing is long-standing in our heritage, a course as saturated in the green and white blood of York tradition as the Duke himself. Not only the class itself, though, but also its instructor. Mr. Stolz is currently on his ninth year of teaching Screen Printing in the Industrial Tech Department at York, and printing is even a tradition in his bloodline.

“I come from a family of printers,” Mr. Stolz said. “My grandpa and dad were printers. I had Screen Printing in high school too and decided to try it for myself. I was pulled into it. Colleges, however, didn’t typically have much for those interested in printing so I had to reteach myself a vast majority of what I know when I started teaching at York.”

In this ever-changing and progressing world, traditions themselves adapt, and Screen Printing will be subject to these changes of tides, especially as technological and printing capabilities advance.

“We’re actually changing the class’s name to ‘Multimedia Printing and Design’, so don’t worry when you don’t see ‘Screen Printing’ in the course catalog anymore, we’re still here,” Mr. Stolz said. “What inspired the change was that in the past we were only printing on t-shirts. Once you learn the process for that you just repeat it several times and that’s it, that’s the class. Nowadays we can print on everything from glass to wood to metal, so I want to teach my students what it’s like to print on different surfaces instead of just doing the same thing over and over again.”

Screen Printing is intended to be an enjoyable yet informative class, but over the years, due to this repetition aforementioned, it has developed a contravening connotation.

“Students seem to think that this is an easy ‘blow-off’ class,” Mr. Stolz said. “This isn’t all students, of course, but a good number. This subject is something that I am obviously passionate about, and of course I think it should be enjoyable, but I want to escape that stigma that this class is a ‘blow-off’ class.”

For such a universally applicable course, it is a shame that such a reputation exists. The course would be a perfect choice for students who are looking into pursuing any variety of career paths from business and entrepreneurship to marketing and finance to fashion and design; creating the outline yourself and manufacturing it, overseeing the entire process. It can even just be for those students seeking a fun new course that will teach them something new. The class is all about teaching creative students how to produce quality products.

“This class is geared towards those students who are not afraid to limit their creativity, those willing to work hard to maximize class time and expand their horizons,” Mr. Stolz said. “It’s a really fun and relaxed environment. We work together and collaborate a lot, bouncing ideas off of one another to put ourselves into the shoes of our peers and broaden our perspectives on our designs, and we laugh together a lot. It is a very constructive atmosphere.”

While many other classes are geared towards conformity, boasting an orthodox nature, Screen Printing is unique, a vibrant red rose growing through the crevasse between the dreary gray sidewalk squares of high school classes.

“Screen Printing allows you to be creative, to express yourself through your project,” Mr. Stolz said. “Probably the most unique aspect would be that you are in complete control of what you’re working on, and you quite literally get to wear it with pride. When you go to the store and buy a shirt, you’re buying the product of another, others are doing the process for you, but here you control that process and you own that final product.”