Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy

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Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy, or SASA, is a small public high school and middle school in Saginaw, Michigan. It is considered to be a magnet school, and it maintains high test scores in the Mid-Michigan Tri-Cities Region. Enrollment is approximately 600 students overall.

SASA's concentration program is unusual, even for a magnet school. Middle school concentration programs include Global Studies/Language Arts, Voice/Keyboard, 2-D Art, 3-D Art, Dance, Math/Science. High school concentrations include Global Studies, Math/Science, Language Arts, Voice/Keyboard, 2-D Art, 3-D Art, Dance, and Theater. Due to budget cuts, the Middle school Theater concentration was suspended for a few years due to budget, but it was reinstated during the 2006-07 school year and there are currently students enrolled in the program.

[edit] History

The Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy is located in a building that originally housed a Montgomery Ward department store. In the early 1980s, the school district of the city of Saginaw purchased the building and announced plans to convert it into a half-day specialized high-school and middle-school program for advanced students called the Center for the Arts & Sciences (CAS). At the time the announcement was made to the local press, district spokesman Michael Manley recalled that discarded mannequins still filled the building. New dividing walls were constructed to create classrooms, although the fact that the building was originally a department store is still somewhat apparent (especially due to the lack of windows).

During the 1980s and 1990s, the CAS shared its building with the Ruben Daniels Center for Lifelong Education, an adult and alternative high school also run by the Saginaw School district. The CAS met with surprising success, and began drawing students from throughout the Saginaw-valley area, including Saginaw, Bay, and Midland counties.

In the late 1990s, a committee of students, parents, and teachers began a campaign to expand the school to include a full-day option. This committee took on the name "The River School Project", owing to the school's location on the banks of the Saginaw River near downtown Saginaw. Although the committee met with much doubt and resistance, support gradually built, and after several meetings the Saginaw School Board eventually unanimously approved plans to expand the school and change the name to the Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy. In 1999, full-day programs were added for the 9th and 10th grade, with the 11th grade following in 2000, and the 12th grade in 2001. The school initially had far fewer full-day students than half-day, but since the early days of the full-day program, full-time enrollment has greatly expanded.

The history of CAS/SASA would not be complete without the mention of outstanding principal Mr. Birdsall. During the nineties, U of M alumni Mr. Birdsall would strike awe in the hearts of the incoming students during his welcoming speech. He emphasized respect, and once he retired, the halls of CAS/SASA seemed to get a little louder, a little rowdier. He also ran Driver's Education on the site during the summer.

[edit] Accolades

SASA students have repeatedly performed well in standardized tests, art, sciences, math and more. SASA typically has a handful of students represented at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair every year, and the school has produced two grand award winners, as well as dozens of students who have placed at ISEF. In the 2001 TEAMS engineering competition, SASA's team scored highest nationally. The school has well-regarded math competition teams, and participation in certain competitions such as the American Mathematics Contest and the Michigan Mathematics Prize Competition is mandatory for all students in the Math/Science concentration. The school's Model United Nations club, one of the longest-running organizations at the school, has become very successful, recently. In the past two years, SASAMUN has won 7 best delegate awards, and 6 best delegation awards at regional/national conferences. The school's arts programs are especially well-designed and developed and usually send an impressive delegation to the Michigan Youth Arts Festival, and several of the school's visual artists have won national art competitions. Finally, the school publishes an annual literary magazine, ICONS, which is edited and run entirely by students. Icons has won numerous awards of excellence from Columbia Scholastic Press.SASA is the site of the Saginaw County Science and Engineering Fair. Participation in this event is a requirement for students in the Math/Science Concentration (and a major part of their grade), but other students may apply if they wish.

[edit] Student Culture

The SASA student body is extremely diverse. There are students from both working class and wealthy families, and the school's racial makeup is also very mixed. SASA draws students from both the East and West sides of Saginaw city (traditionally the province of Saginaw High School and Arthur Hill High School, respectively), as well as outlying suburbs, and the cities of Bay City and Midland to name only a few.

The school's athletics programs are limited in scope, but have grown in recent years to affiliate with the Inter-State Athletic Conference/ISAC for varsity boys and girls sports in basketball and soccer and girls volleyball. For some major sports (including football, and baseball) students elect to attend SASA for the half-day program and play on their home school's team.

Recent changes in policy in the Saginaw Public School District have been met with various attitudes from SASA students. A recent amendment to the district dress-code policy has altered the usual lax environment to a 'business casual' code. The proscription of hooded sweatshirts "wookies" and compulsory 'tucking' have been met with resistance, however, it appears that academic resolve remains supreme.

The school has recently put the scissors in the school under heavy protection after two incidents involving their use as a weapon. One of the students has been expelled, while the other is pending expulsion .Saginaw News Article

Student life has advanced well beyond the originating days of SASA. While it once was a unique school, several teachers, students, and administrators have been trying to create SASA into a "real school". This has been done by adding several things a "real school" would have. A winter formal dance held in February of 2006, similar to nearby high schools Arthur Hill High School and Saginaw High. SASA has also instituted a prom, student council, and the potential of a homecoming at the next school year.