Dreyfoos School of the Arts

Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts
Address
501 South Sapodilla Avenue West Palm Beach, Florida, 33401  United States
Coordinates	26°42′33″N 80°03′34″W / 26.709197°N 80.059513°W / 26.709197; -80.059513Coordinates: 26°42′33″N 80°03′34″W / 26.709197°N 80.059513°W / 26.709197; -80.059513
Information
Established	1989
School district	Palm Beach County School District
Principal	Dr. Susan Atherley
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	1304[1]
Campus	Urban
Color(s)	Black, White & Gold
Mascot	Jaguar
Literary Magazine	Seeds
Newsmagazine	The Muse
Yearbook	The Marquee
Art Areas	Communication Arts, Dance, Digital Media, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts
School of the Arts Foundation	soafi.org
Website	awdsoa.org

Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts (DSOA) is a public high school located in West Palm Beach, Florida. Formerly named the Palm Beach County School of the Arts (also known as School of the Arts or SOA), the school was renamed in recognition of a 1997 donation of $1 million by Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr., a West Palm Beach philanthropist.

DSOA is a magnet school, with students coming from across Palm Beach County. Students are accepted through a process of competitive auditions for one of the six art areas. Once accepted, students belong to one of the school's six art departments: Communication Arts, Dance, Digital Media, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts. Students are then said to 'major' in their art area, taking at least two art area classes per year in addition to other academic and other classes. Dreyfoos has appeared on various nationwide 'Top High School' lists since 2005. The school is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

The school's campus is located in downtown West Palm Beach at 501 South Sapodilla Avenue, adjacent to the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and the CityPlace district. Located across Tamarind Avenue is the Tri-Rail train station, on which many students from the southeastern part of the county regularly commute.

DSOA is administrated by the School District of Palm Beach County, which also provides most of its funding. The school receives supplementary funds from the School of the Arts Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Admissions

All DSOA students are accepted by competitive audition. Most students enter at grade nine, although students in higher grades may apply to transfer to DSOA in later years. The audition process takes place on a yearly basis; no mid-year transfers are conducted. Only legal residents of Palm Beach County may audition.

Prospective students must first submit the Choice Programs Application to the School District of Palm Beach County's Department of School Choice and Choice Programs by December of the preceding school year. Auditioning students must then attend an Audition Sign-Up Day to schedule their audition. This typically occurs in mid to late January. Audition dates run from late January through early March. Audition results and admission decisions are then mailed to prospective students on a date determined by the school district, typically in mid-April.

Curriculum

Students in their first year at DSOA are given a rounded course selection in their art area. First-year visual arts majors, for example, take a year-long drawing class as well as a semester of sculpture and a semester of either 2-D design or photography. In subsequent years, students are allowed and often encouraged to specialize in an area of the department: Creative writing, graphics, journalism, television, film, or speech and debate for communications majors; technical theatre, acting, or musical theatre for theatre majors; sculpture, painting, photography or printmaking for visual arts majors; ballet or modern for dance majors. The one exception is music, in which a student is given intensive training in their instrument of expertise (or voice) for all four years. Music majors include band, keyboard, orchestra, and vocal.

Training at the school emphasizes professional skills. Students learn through classes, lessons, ensemble rehearsals, and performing.

Visual Arts

According to The College Board’s 2007 Report to the Nation, the studio art advanced placement students at The Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts had the highest percentage of students passing the AP exam of any large high school in the world.^[2] This is the third time the school’s visual art department has received this distinction, having achieved it previously in 2005 and 2006.^[3][4] Dreyfoos student Rebecca Mock was named as one of the 20 national Presidential Scholars in the Arts in 2007.^[5]

Communication Arts

The Dreyfoos Speech and Debate team won #1 in the nation at the annual Bickel and Brewer National Policy Forum competition in New York City in 2006 and 2007. ^[6]

Silver Key, National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, New York City, 2007; Short Film, El Dentista; A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts Communication Students; Ruby Hernandez, Michelle Motter and Christine Valentim

Palm Beach International Film Festival:

1st Place High School Feature/Shorts and Documentaries A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts Communication Students; Nicole Groton, Emily Englehardt, David Kossin, and Sandon Simmons.

1st Place Poster Awards A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts Communication Students; Joseph Gerbino and Alison Schwartz.

1st Place Viral Video Award A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts Visual Arts Student; Grant Yansura.

Audience Choice Award Award A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts Communication Students; Joseph Gerbino, Daniel Satinoff, Errol Sabinano, Joseph Poach, and (G-Star Student) Houston Davis Jones.^{[7][dead link]}

The Collaborative Film Productions Club won 1st place in the High School Narrative category at the 2008 Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival for the film "Wednesday".^[8]

The TV production team of 2008-2009 won the prestigious NSPA Broadcast Pacemaker award.^[9]

The TV Production team of 2009-2010 won a Broadcast Pacemaker Finalist award.^[10]

Dance

The Dance Department provides intensive training in different styles and techniques of jazz, ballet, pointe and modern dance. In 2008, out of the 12 men Juilliard School accepted for dance, a remarkable two came from Dreyfoos. ^[11]

Digital Media

This department, a new addition to the school, started in the 2006-2007 school year. The program was created by blending two dynamic programs, Communication Arts and Visual Arts. Students are offered classes in film and digital video, production, photography – traditional and digital, animation and graphic design. Students in this program work with both the moving image and the still image to create narrative experimental, documentary and short films of a variety of genres.

Music

Dreyfoos Music Department was selected as one of the top ten music programs in the country by the NARAS (National Association of Arts and Science) Foundation and was declared a GRAMMY Gold Division School [1]. The music department at Dreyfoos includes Band, Strings, Vocal, and Keyboard majors.

Theatre

The Dreyfoos Theatre Department received the Educational Theatre Association’s Outstanding School Award, Outstanding Student Award, & Hall of Fame Teacher Award (the first time in the 74 year-history of this organization that one school received all three awards).^[12] The School's theatre department has also been one of only 10 schools each year selected to perform their Mainstage productions at the Florida State Thespian Competition for the past 4 years. The Florida State Thespian Competition is the largest high school thespian competition in the World.
Past plays include:
2004: Nine Armenians* and Ragtime
2005: Dames at Sea and Of Mice and Men
2006: Trojan Women* and The Secret Garden
2007: As You Like It* and Ain't Misbehavin'
2008: Our Town* and West Side Story
2009: FAME: The Musical* and 45 Seconds from Broadway
2010: Crazy for You and The Last Night of Ballyhoo
2011: Noises Off and Hairspray
2012: Midsummer* and Metamorphoses
(All Asterisked Plays were Mainstaged at the Florida State Thespian Festival)

• Named an Education Theatre Association Outstanding High School Theatre Program
• Performing on the Mainstage of the Florida State Thespian Festival twelve times in the last fourteen years
• Two-time Winner of the Southeastern Theatre Conference Secondary School Play Competition
• Four-time Winner of the Florida Theatre Conference Secondary School Play Competition
• Most awards for a single school at the District Thespian One-Act Play Competition
• Most awards for a single school at the District Thespian Individual Event Festival

Alumni and accolades

Like the Class of 2009, the Class of 2010 boasted a 100% graduation rate with 97% of the graduating class going on to attend post-secondary educational institutions. Additionally, the Class of 2010 collectively received over $19 million in scholarship offers.^[13]

The Dreyfoos School of the Arts Debate team won the prestigious National Public Policy Forum for the second year in a row in 2007. It is not only the first school to win the New York University/Bickel and Brewer Law Firm competition in consecutive years, but is the first public high school to win the competition in its history.

In 2008, the school's student newsmagazine, The Muse, won the National Scholastic Press Association's prestigious Newspaper Pacemaker award, a recognition of the top student publications in the United States.^[14] This is the second time Dreyfoos has won the award, having earned it previously in 2004 to become the first school publication in Florida to do so.^[15] The Muse also won fifth place in "Best in Show" at the 2008 Fall Convention of the National Scholastic Press Association, having previously earned eighth place at the 2006 Spring Convention.^[16][17]

The school's literary magazine, Seeds, received the prestigious National Scholastic Press Association Magazine Pacemaker in 2009.^[18] Seeds also received fourth place in "Best in Show" at the 2007 Fall Convention of the National Scholastic Press Association.^[19]

The school's newscast, "DSOA Today", received fourth place in "Best in Show" at the 2005 Spring Convention of the National Scholastic Press Association.^[20]

The school's Theatre Department won the Southeastern Theatre Conference festival with its production of Kindertransport.^[21] Numerous other productions have received high ratings at the Florida Theatre Conference and the Florida State Thespian Festival.

In 1996 the Theatre Department was invited to the much popular State Festival in Tampa, FL. The festival showcased the state's top talents in performance among High School students. The Department performed a "Caribbean-style" spin on the Shakespeare classic, "Twelfth Night" starring among others Trevares J. Thompson.

Dreyfoos Alumni

• 79 have started their own theatre companies (Kimberlea Kressal’s Estrotribe, Randi Berry’s Wreckio Theatre, & David Rodriguez’s 2 Cities Production Companies in NY), and film companies (Adam Cronan’s Bama Productions).

• 533 have performed in local & regional theatres (Gretchen Porro at Cincinnati Playhouse, Greg Roman at the Ahmanson Theatre and The Groundlings in Los Angeles, Brandon Morris at Gable Stage & City Theatre, Jonathan Horvath & Lorenzo Guittierez at Atlantis Playhouse, Brad Barfield and Natasha Sherritt at Florida Stage, Johnny Mineo at Mosaic Theatre, Erin Krakow with Sally Struthers in Steel Magnolias).

• 363 have appeared on television (Sharon Pierre in Louis on Lincoln Heights, Billy Bell in So You Think You Can Dance, Josh Harraway in Seducing Cindy, Reid Ewing in Modern Family, Eric Goertz on Palm Beach County Local News).

• 940 have worked with casting agencies (Megan Larche for Binder Casting, Danielle Pretsfelder for Nickleodeon).

• 14 are in national tours (Daniel Rysak in Cats).

• 45 have appeared in commercials (Deprece Reddick & Francesca Tosti for Pepsi, Daniel Karpel for Snickers).

• 63 have appeared in major films (Joshua Harto in The Dark Knight & The Believer).

• 53 have appeared off Broadway (Carrie Specksgoor in Triptych & Harry Bayron in No Strings).

• 87 have appeared on Broadway (Eddie Pendergraft and Kristina Fernandez in Wicked).

• 43 have professionally designed (Pam Kupper: lighting at Radio City Music Hall, Mike McClain: scenery for St. Louis Opera Company, Caitlin Hunt: assistant costume for In the Heights, Aaron Leahy: Lunge Dance Collective).

• 2 are performing their own stand up comedy (Franchesca Ramsey, Eric Andre).

• 1 has performed at international theme parks (Mike Scirrotto, Tokyo Disney).

• 2 are teaching in major American art museums (Rachel Harper at the Art Institute of Chicago & Kerry Downey at the Museum of Modern Art, New York)

History

The school's campus is the former site of Twin Lakes High School. Twin Lakes was founded in 1908 as Palm Beach High School; it was established one year before the founding of the county itself and is the oldest high school in the county. Originally for whites, Palm Beach High merged in the 1970-1971 school year with the black Roosevelt High School following integration, forming Twin Lakes High School.^[22] In 1988, following a decision by the Palm Beach County School Board, Twin Lakes was closed. The school moved to a new site and was renamed Palm Beach Lakes Community High School. The old campus buildings were boarded up and were slated for demolition.

Several years later, however, the campus was renovated. In 1997 it re-opened as the site of the Dreyfoos School of the Arts. DSOA was previously located on the former site of North Shore High School, now BAK Middle School of the Arts, in Mangonia Park (the site now occupied by the Bak Middle School of the Arts). Before being renamed after Dreyfoos and moving to the new campus, the school was known as the Palm Beach County School of the Arts.

The school recently celebrated its 100-Year Celebration with the "100 Years on the Hill" event.

References

1. ^ "Palm Beach Schools - Alexander Dreyfoos". http://www.palmbeachschools.org/schools/alexanderdreyfoos.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-13. 
2. ^ "2007 AP Report to the Nation". http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/ap/2007/2007_ap-report-nation.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
3. ^ "2005 AP Report to the Nation". http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/ap/2005/ap-report-nation.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
4. ^ "2006 AP Report to the Nation". http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/ap/2006/2006_ap-report-nation.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
5. ^ "2007 Presidential Scholars". http://www.ed.gov/programs/psp/2007/scholars.html#florida. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
6. ^ "Dreyfoos Debate Team Wins National Honor". http://www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/agenda/Agenda417Cat7Sub0Item11.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-31. 
7. ^ "2008 Student Showcase of Films". http://www.pbfilm.com/ssof.asp. 
8. ^ "FLIFF 2008 High School Film Competition". http://www.fliff.com/film.asp?filmID=1290&catID=35. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
9. ^ "2009 NSPA Broadcast Pacemaker Winners". http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/winners/bpm09.html. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
10. ^ "2010 NSPA Broadcast Pacemaker Winners". http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/winners/bpm10.html. Retrieved 2011-03-29. 
11. ^ "School of the Arts Foundation, Inc. - Dance". http://www.soafi.org/index.php?cView=41. Retrieved 2011-01-29. 
12. ^ "Dreyfoos Sweep Makes Statement For the Arts". Palm Beach Post, The. 2003-06-15. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=PBPB&p_theme=pbpb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0FBCAC761ACAEF0F&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved 2011-01-28. 
13. ^ "SOAFI - Academics". http://www.soafi.org/index.php?cView=40. Retrieved 2011-01-30. 
14. ^ "2008 NSPA Newspaper Pacemaker Winners". http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/winners/npm08.html. Retrieved 2011-01-30. 
15. ^ "2004 NSPA Newspaper Pacemaker Winners". http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/winners/npm04.html. Retrieved 2011-01-31. 
16. ^ "NSPA Winners Fall 2008". http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/winners/f08bs.html. Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
17. ^ "NSPA Winners Spring 2006". http://studentpress.org/nspa/winners/s06bs.html. Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
18. ^ "2009 NSPA Magazine Pacemaker Winners". http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/winners/mpm09.html. Retrieved 2011-01-30. 
19. ^ "NSPA Winners Fall 2007". http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/winners/f07bs.html. Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
20. ^ "NSPA Winners Spring 2005". http://www.studentpress.org/nspa/winners/s05bs.html. Retrieved 2011-02-12. 
21. ^ "A Tale Of Hope, Sadness". http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1998-04-15/community/9804130112_1_students-performance-arts-students-arts-theatre-department. Retrieved 2011-01-30. 
22. ^ "Dreyfoos has rich history on ‘The Hill’". http://www.historicpalmbeach.com/eliot-kleinberg/2010/09/dreyfoos-has-rich-history-on-%E2%80%98the-hill%E2%80%99/. Retrieved 2011-07-03. 

External links

• School of the Arts Foundation, Inc.
• Top High Schools, Dreyfoos ranked 20^{[dead link]}
• America's Best High Schools 2007 Newsweek^{[dead link]}