Mackenze Tezak, MA ’26, always knew what she wanted to do growing up. “I’m going to be a teacher who teaches kids how to draw horses,” said five-year-old Tezak. While her five-year-old self’s career goals were surprisingly specific, her desire to educate never went away. Currently teaching at Christ Church Day School in San Diego, Tezak enjoys nurturing children into who they were made to be.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Moody Bible Institute in 2017, Tezak spent the next six years teaching internationally in Nicaragua and Spain. “I got the opportunity to teach art and absolutely fell in love with it,” said Tezak. “When I moved back to the U.S., I knew teaching art was something I wanted in my future.”
When she began searching for art education programs, Azusa Pacific University immediately stood out. A Master of Arts in Art Education at APU offered Tezak the perfect environment to explore the integration of faith and art in her thesis: Created to Create: An Integrated Art and Faith Curriculum. “I created an eight-unit curriculum which serves as a tool for teachers that merges artistic and spiritual development,” said Tezak. She was inspired by Exodus 31:2-5, which recounts how God filled Bezalel with the Holy Spirit, granting him the wisdom and artistic skill to create the Tabernacle. “I remember finding this idea fascinating because it combined different passions into the idea that art is a way to glorify God,” said Tezak. Her vision comes to life in the specific units she designed in her curriculum, where art and faith go hand in hand. “I want kids to understand what it means that God is our creator,” said Tezak. “I pull in several Montessori-inspired, hands-on processes to explain lessons like prisms and colors, which are tied to the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Spain.” Through her Christ-centered lessons, Tezak aims to help students discover their own creativity as image-bearers of God.
While attending APU, Tezak found inspiration for her curriculum in unexpected classrooms.
“I remember taking an art history and museum education course that wasn’t focused
on the methodology of teaching art,” said Tezak. “I loved it because of all the ways
the professor incorporated these creative practices.” By connecting her art curriculum
to a higher purpose, Tezak aims to create an encouraging, faith-filled classroom culture.
Beyond the classroom, one of Tezak’s most fulfilling experiences is the relationships that flourish between her and her students. “I want kids to fall in love with the process of being creative,” said Tezak. “Kids bring me a lot of joy. In an art classroom especially, you can have a lot of imagination.” That joy translates into how they view their ability to create art. “My former students will come back a year later and say, ‘Guess what I made?’ They get so excited to tell me about their art,” Tezak said. “Seeing how that connection develops beyond academics means the world to me.” As she prepares for the next step in her artistic journey, Tezak hopes to inspire the teachers around her to embrace every child’s true potential, whether artistic or not. Tezak remains dedicated to the message behind her thesis and continues to help students embrace the idea that we are all created to create.