Savannah Arts Academy

Savannah Arts Academy
Location
500 Washington Avenue
Savannah, GA 31405
Coordinates 32°02′46″N 81°05′34″W / 32.046037°N 81.092855°WCoordinates: 32°02′46″N 81°05′34″W / 32.046037°N 81.092855°W
Information
Type Magnet, Public high school
Established 1998
Principal Gifford Lockley
Faculty 50.1 (on FTE basis)[1]
Enrollment 668 (as of 2005-06)[1]
Student to teacher ratio 13.3[1]
Color(s) Black, Silver, and White
              
Mascot Panthers
Information (912) 395-5000
Website Official web site

Savannah Arts Academy (SAA) is the first dedicated performing and visual arts school in Savannah, Georgia. It is part of the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools. Savannah Arts Academy was granted charter school status and the former Savannah High School building in July 1998, and opened in August of the same year with 397 students enrolled.

As of the 2005-06 school year, the school had an enrollment of 668 students and 50.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student-teacher ratio of 13.3.[1] In 2012, the school was ranked the #1 high school in Georgia, and #87 among more than five thousand high schools nationally, by US News and World Report.[2]

Academics

The school offers classes up to the AP or college level.

AP Courses

Communication Arts

The Communication Arts Department offers intensive courses related to information technology and broadcast/video production. As freshmen, students study basic computer applications and gain knowledge of the communication system by participating in a variety of activities, problems, and settings. Students work in information technology, software systems management, operating systems, data communications, the Internet, digital media production, and web design. Broadcast and video production courses provide advanced training in video production techniques, including program production, editing, lighting, and graphics. Students in Communication Arts also have the opportunity to take Journalism I and II (newspaper staff), and Journalism III and IV (yearbook staff).

Dance

The Dance Department students take technical training in ballet and modern, plus additional training in jazz, if interested. Students engage in two academic dance courses - one year of dance history and one year of dance composition. The department traditionally performs in two large annual productions with dance works created by faculty, students, and guest artists. Choreography is produced both in class and in afternoon rehearsals. There are also multiple opportunities for performing in venues from the fall Student Choreography Concerts to the large spring musical production, as well as touring local area schools and events. Each year interested dance students may attend the National High School Dance Festival and have the opportunity to work with local and national guest artists throughout the school year.

Music

The faculty includes professional musicians, active performers, clinicians, and adjudicators.

The chorus has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. They were also invited to perform in Australia and England. They have released several CDs.

The music department provides instruction in winds, strings, percussion, piano and vocal music. Ensembles include String Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Mixed Choruses, Men’s Choir, and Women’s Choir. SAA has five choruses: the SAA Chorale, Men's Choir, Skylarks, Women's Cantabile, and Nova Singers. The program through the years has garnered every award available to it through the Georgia Music Educators Association.


Students who graduate from the program and elect to pursue music in higher education have been awarded scholarships to the leading institutions in the country, including Indiana University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

The orchestral program is one of few left in the city's public school system.

Theatre Arts

The Theatre Arts Department's mission is to foster talent and develop creativity through professional training and a wide variety of courses including Drama Fundamentals, Acting I & II, Technical Theatre I & II, Acting III, Theatre History, Musical Theatre I & II, Technical Theatre III, a design course, and Advanced Drama (a performance group). Students have the opportunity to practice the skills learned in the classroom through after-school productions, competitions and festivals. It holds two performances per year, a musical in the fall and a play in the spring.

Visual Arts

The visual arts department offers Art History and Criticism, Drawing, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Fibers, Fashion, Ceramics, Pottery, and AP Studio Art.

History

The Savannah Arts Academy building is located on a site that was originally planned as a luxury tourist hotel called the Hotel Georgia. The Works Progress Administration, in the midst of the Great Depression, expressed interest in the site for use as the new Savannah High School, which was dedicated on June 15, 1937. After 61 years on Washington Avenue, Savannah High School classes were moved to a new building on Pennsylvania Avenue, leaving the structure available for the newly formed Savannah Arts Academy for the school year beginning August 1998.

Awards and recognition

During the 2006-07 school year, Savannah Arts Academy was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education.[3] This is considered the highest award an American school can receive.[4] "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement."[5]

Other recognitions include:

Admissions

Students must perform ten hours of community service each year (twice the district mandate), maintain an 80% average, and have very good discipline. Each child's parents must also do a total of ten hours of service annually, but parent service can include volunteering at performances or attending parent meetings.

Admission to Savannah Arts Academy requires an 80% or greater overall academic average in the previous year of schooling, as well as satisfactory marks in conduct.

The audition requirement for Savannah Arts is waived for students enrolled in the Armstrong Atlantic Youth Orchestra (AAYO) or the Atlantic Chamber Orchestra (ACO) who meet the academic requirements. AAYO and ACO are member orchestras which are filled by recommendation, including an intensive audition process, and are sponsored by the music department at Armstrong Atlantic State University.

Incoming students are also required to audition for their chosen arts major, which can range from an on-the-spot demonstration (music, theatre and dance) to creation of a portfolio (visual and communication arts).

Administration

Current Administration
Gifford Lockley Principal
Kenneth Traylor Assistant Principal
Michael Corbett Lead Counselor
Christine Shawl Arts Department Chair
Terry Finlay[A] Foreign Language Department Head
Kathy Maher Science Department Head
Daniel Snope Mathematics Department Head

Hired in August 1998, Mary Arbeeco-wrote the charter of the school, organized the first school council, and assisted in hiring the first faculty and staff who auditioned the first students. The following year, Arbee resigned and relocated.

Beverly Oliver came to SAA to serve as interim principal until the arrival of Marcia Clanton from Hubert Middle School in February 2000. In March 2006, Clanton was promoted to executive director of all high schools in Savannah and was replaced by SAA administrator Odessa Richards.

SAA has had several other assistant principals: Lynette Angeloni, Dr. Angie Lewis, David Marshall, Travis Cowart, and Odessa Richards. For the school year of 2010-2011, Heather Handy was the current interim principal. Gifford Lockley has replaced Handy as the new permanent principal.

Performance facilities

John Varnedoe Theatre

The main theatre located at the front of the building was redone with the school-wide renovation, supplying a large stage, cloth theatre chairs, new carpeting, and wing space.

The Black Box Theatre

This is a theatre and communications classroom.

The Performance Hall

The hall is used for events such as Beta Induction and lectures.

Student activities

Savannah Arts' school-related events, performances, student clubs, and sports teams include:

Clubs

Annual competitions

Annual performances

The theatre shows that occur each year stick mainly to this schedule:

Athletics

Notable alumni

Name Class year Notability Reference(s)
Cheryl Haworth 2001 Olympic weightlifter
Nivea Hamilton 2000 Recording artist
Rebecca Holliday 2001 Participant in Season 2 of Project Runway

Notes

A.^ 2008 District Teacher of the Year

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Savannah Arts Academy". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
  2. ↑ "Savannah Arts Academy - Best High Schools - US News". U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  3. ↑ "U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 2003 through 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Education. Retrieved 2006-05-11.
  4. ↑ "CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department". Journal Inquirer. 2006-11-16.
  5. ↑ "Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test". The Washington Post. 2005-09-29.
  6. ↑ The Governor's Office of Student Achievement. "Contest Winners".

External links