Charleston County School of the Arts

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Charleston County School of the Arts

Established	1995
Type	Public (magnet) middle and secondary
Principal	Rose Maree Myers
Students	approx 1,000
Grades	6–12
Location	1600 Saranac St. North Charleston, South Carolina USA
Oversight	Charleston County School District
Campus	Urban
Phone	(843) 529-4990
Website	soa.ccsdschools.com

Charleston County School of the Arts (commonly abbreviated SOA) is a public magnet school located in North Charleston, South Carolina, United States. The school was started in 1995 by Rose Maree Myers and serves approximately 1,000 students in grades 6 through 12. Admission to SOA is based upon a competitive audition process in one of eight majors: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Band, Strings Orchestra, Piano, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts, or Vocal Music.

The school boasts some of the highest SAT scores in the state. Currently, the average score of 1617 places the school within the top five schools of the state.

The school's Advanced Placement scores are the highest in the school district for those schools where 15% or more of the students are enrolled in AP courses. Students may select from AP Calculus, AP English Literature, AP Music Theory, AP Statistics, AP Studio Art, AP 3-D Design, AP U.S. History, and AP World History. Seventy-five percent of enrolled students score 3, 4, or 5 each year on the AP exams. Students in the 2004-2005 AP Music Theory class had the highest AP scores in the world for schools of the School of the Arts' size.

Last year's Chorale sang at Carnegie Hall. The Jazz Band is considered one of the best in the nation. More creative writing students win the annual Scholastic writing award than students in any other program in the nation. Dance, orchestra, piano, theatre, and visual arts students also earn many national awards.

Students attend the most selective arts colleges upon graduation including Juilliard, the Eastman School of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, the Rhode Island School of Design, the Savannah College of Art and Design, and many of the most prestigious academic universities.

Admission is highly competitive and is accomplished through audition and interview. The School of the Arts is due to combine an enormous campus with the 10th best school in the nation: Academic Magnet High in 2009. Though Academic Magnet supports a wide variety of athletics, including Swimming and Track, the Charleston County School of the Arts will not share in the sports.