Tacoma School of the Arts
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| Tacoma School of the Arts | |
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| Location | |
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| Tacoma, Washington, USA | |
| Information | |
| School district | Tacoma Public Schools |
| Principal | Jon Ketler Paul Kelly |
| Type | Visual and Performing Arts School |
| Established | 2001 |
The Tacoma School of the Arts (SOTA or TSOTA) is the only arts school in the greater Tacoma, Washington area. SOTA accepts students for their last three years of high school only. Students must complete the 9th grade at another high school. SOTA's student capacity is 450 students, a number which the school reached by 2007. [1]SOTA was established in the fall of 2001.
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[edit] Students
SOTA tries to allow students to foster responsibility. To this goal, many SOTA projects are student-run, including some aspects of the school's administration.
In another example of student's responsibility, many Performing Arts projects are left up to students. Students have directed and starred in productions including The Glass Menagerie (dir. Kathryn Robinson, 07) and The Last of the Darling Brent Girls, the latter also written by a student (dir. Kaylie Rainer, 07/written by Roland C. Carette-Meyers, 07).[2] Other past productions, not directed by students, include Antigone, Our Town, The Real Inspector Hound, Nickel and Dimed and The Jungle Book. Future productions include The Trojan Women.
While students are expected to take a wide variety of classes, most specialize in one department, or "discipline". Departments offered include those of the Visual Arts (photography, sculpture, graphic design, drawing, and painting) and those of the Performing Arts (songwriting and audio recording, instrumental music conservatory, vocal music, dance, and technical theatre). However, some students may announce a "renaissance" major where they take classes from all the disciplines.
[edit] Faculty and staff
SOTA teachers are some of the best in the area. They are passionate about their subjects, and are able to teach students a variety of subjects in some non-traditional ways. Local artists are also hired by the school to teach their art forms. Included in this innovative "Artist in Residence" program are the Audio Recording and Jazz Combo classes.
[edit] Courses
SOTA has a wide selection of artistic classes available, many of which are unavailable at other schools.
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Traditional classes include:
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[edit] FIRST Robotics Competition
In 2008, SOTA created its own FRC team with the help of Team 360 from Bellarmine Prep. They are Team 2557, SOTA Bots. They won Rookie of the Year in the Tacoma (Microsoft) Regional and went on to get 22nd place in their division in the Atlanta (International) Competition.
[edit] Notable people
[edit] Staff
- Jared Pappas-Kelley (former staff member)
- Brent Hartinger (former staff member)
- Mary Boone
- Luke Sieczek
[edit] Alumni
- Members of the band Don't Tell Sophie[3]
- Matthew Scott, co-founder of T-Town Productions
[edit] External links
- School of the Arts Official Website
- SOTA at the Tacoma Public Schools Site
