Faculty Spotlight: Jon Arras, Architecture & Interior Design

Technical expertise, hands-on experience translate well to the classroom

By Brian J. Howard, SWBOCES
Feb. 6, 2023

Jonathan Arras is a new face on the Careers Center campus in Valhalla, a mid-year addition to the CTE faculty teaching Architecture and Interior Design.

Halloween of all days marked the start of a new chapter in the career of the longtime technical designer, who stepped in after his predecessor left to take a new position. Mr. Arras’s educational background, his prior career and even his experiences as a parent are combining to help him chart a new course in Career and Technical Education.

His classroom is filled with supplies, for which he is determining the  best uses. The furniture is arranged how he found it but probably not how he’ll arrange it when this school year winds down. His lesson planning is constantly evolving as he discovers better and better ways to support and guide his students.

“Getting the kids to see what I want them to see and learning to speak simplistically enough for them to get it is what I struggled with,” he said. “My daughter’s a junior, and I’ve got a bunch of juniors here. It’s interesting seeing it from the other side.”

Mr. Arras worked in a scene shop for a decade until the pandemic. It was then that he began to turn to teaching what he knew to the next generation. His background in CAD - computer-assisted drawing - fit well with what this position required. 

A scene shop builds theatrical or television scenery, he said, from a luxury shoe display for an international company to museum exhibits. His shop built studio sets for 10 Olympics. He worked on the NBC Nightly News set and Chinese TV studio sets. 

Mr. Arras holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree  in Technical Theater from Penn State and a Master of Fine Arts degree  in Technical Direction from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. A father of two girls, the younger of whom is 9, he is originally from Pennsylvania as is his wife.

    He worked his way up in the field, eventually getting into technical design, which relates well to what he now teaches. The work was rewarding, but the deadlines were demanding and the hours long.

He recalled getting a call from an installer while with his child on a playground. One Friday afternoon at lunch, he got an urgent materials request for delivery to Washington, D.C. NBC had  landed a major interview with then-President Obama and needed a set and backdrop. He had to find the materials, get them delivered to the shop and have the finished set in place by Monday morning.

Experiences like that offer a valuable lesson for students about the world of work. Many of them will require additional instruction beyond the foundational program, but the skills they learn at SWBOCES will remain applicable.

“I want to prepare them for, and get them into, a decent college,” Mr. Arras said. 

His predecessor focused more on Interior Design, while his CAD background leans more toward the architectural side. CAD is a tool that a lot of industries use— architecture, scene design. Even the classroom furniture likely began as CAD drawings, he said. He wants students to have a basic understanding of the tool. That said, he studied lighting, costume and scene design, which he draws upon in the classroom now. 

“We were fortunate to have found someone with the varied technical skill set that Mr. Arras brings to the role, particularly with the school year already under way,” said Principal Evangelo Michas. “He has settled in quickly and embraced the challenge. His students have really taken to him, and he offers them an excellent example of real-world experience in the field they are pursuing.”

Mr. Arras has found his colleagues and administrators to be very supportive. Someone is always checking in to see if he needs anything. At the same time, the degree of autonomy inherent in teaching has been a switch from the constant collaboration among colleagues of his prior career. There’s a level of trust implicit in that autonomy that he appreciates, he said.

For now he’s taking down copious notes and reminders with an eye toward the future. There have been plenty of victories so far, too, including students who apply themselves and improve their performance. Then there are students who push him so they can learn more. 

 “I had a kid the other day say to me, why didn’t you tell me that from the beginning?” he said of a recent lesson. 

Lessons are cumulative, though, and what’s learned in the end has to be taught in the right sequence in order to be understood. It’s kind of a parallel for his own progression as a new teacher.

“I am learning as much from them as they are from me,” he said.