Dreyfoos School of the Arts
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Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. School of the Arts (DSOA) is a prestigious public arts magnet high school located in West Palm Beach, Florida. The school draws talented students from across Palm Beach County into one of its five art departments: Communications, Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Art. Students are said to 'major' in their art area, taking at least two art area classes per year. In addition, students complete the normal public school curriculum of math, science, English, history/social science, foreign language, health, and gym.
| Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of the Arts |
|
| Established | 1994 |
| Type | Public (magnet) secondary |
| Principal | Ellen Van Arsdale |
| Students | 1,300 |
| Grades | 9–12 |
| Location | West Palm Beach, Florida United States |
| District | Palm Beach County School District |
| Campus | Urban |
| Colors | Gold and Black |
| Mascot | Jaguar |
| Art Areas | Communications, Dance, Music, Theater, Visual |
| Foundation | http://www.soafi.org/site/home.asp |
| Website | http://www.awdsoa.org/ |
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[edit] Audition process
Students audition for placement in the school throughout February and March. The audition process is coordinated by each of the individual departments, after which the school administration makes an overall assement of a prospective student's academic and behavioral record. Auditions rigorously test the student's artistic aptitude on a college level. Dreyfoos accepts a limited number of students in each art area. Students are encouraged to apply for placement in 9th and tenth grades; enrollment is generally more difficult, as competition can be high. Acceptance, rejection, and waitlist letters are then mailed to applicants in April.
Prospective applicants and their parents should contact the Palm Beach County School District [1].
[edit] Curriculum
Students in their first year at DSOA are given a fairly rounded course selection in their art area. Visual Arts majors, for example, take a year long drawing class as well as a semester of sculpture, and a semester of 2-D design. A few students are able to take photography. In subsequent years, students are allowed, and often encouraged to specialize in an area of the department; Communications majors may work in journalism, television or film, or speech and debate. Theater majors may focus primarily on technical theater, acting, or musical theater. Visual majors may concentrate on sculpture, painting, photography or printmaking. Dance majors train in a style such as ballet or modern. The one exception is music, in which a student is given intensive training in their instrument of expertise (or voice), for the duration of their high school career. Music departments include band, keyboards, orchestra, and vocal.
[edit] Alumni and accolades
Graduates attend a number of prestigious art colleges and conservatories, including California Institute of the Arts, Eastman School of Music, Juilliard, New England Conservatory, Maryland Institute College of Art and Tisch School of the Arts, among others. The school also has students at a number of top tier academic universities around the nation, such as Brown, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia University, Cooper Union, Bard College, Cornell University, Georgetown, Harvard, MIT, New York University, Tufts University, the University of Southern California, Yale, and Princeton. The school earned the highest number of passing grades (3,4, or 5) on the Advanced Placement Arts tests out of any school worldwide for the 2003-2004 school year. Some of the school's notable Alumni include actress Nadia Bjorlin and her brother actor Ulf Bjorlin, and writer Wendy Guey.
[edit] Location
The school is adjacent to the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts [2], and the outdoor mall Cityplace. Located across Tamarind Avenue is the Tri-Rail train station, which makes commuting for the students in the southern portion of the county fairly easy.
[edit] History
The school was previously named the Palm Beach County School of the Arts from its opening in August of 1990 until the opening of the new campus for the 1997-'98 school year. The original campus was the old North Shore High School campus in Mangonia Park, a neighborhood north of West Palm Beach. That campus is now the home of the Bak Middle School of the Arts, which recently received a generous donation from the Bak family and underwent major renovations.
[edit] Funding
Under the direction of School Board superintendent Arthur C. Johnson, specialty programs in Palm Beach County schools, including magnet schools and extracurricular programs, have been experiencing budget cuts. DSOA, which has a large yearly budget for purchasing art supplies and hiring experienced faculty, has been deeply effected by Johnson's fiscal policy. The School has survived the last several years through the generous donations of local philanthropists and careful financial management by the School of the Arts Foundation.
[edit] See also
- Bak Middle School of the Arts
- Suncoast Community High School Public Math and Science Magnet in Palm Beach County
