School of the Arts (Rochester, New York)

Infobox_School
name = School of the Arts (SOTA)


motto =
established =
type = Public, |affiliation =
district = Rochester City School District
grades = 7-12
president =
principal = Brenda Pacheco-Rivera;
Asst.Principal: Brenda Harrington(Foundation Academy7-8-9);
Asst. Principal: Anna Rodriguez, Commencement Academy (10-11-12)
dean =
faculty =
staff = 167
students = 1,000+
enrollment = Acceptance by Audition
athletics = Basketball, Swimming, Soccer, Tennis, Baseball, Softball, Football, Cheerleading,Bowling, Etc.
conference =
colors = Black and Silver
mascot = Silver Hawk
free_label =
free_text = Urban campus
free_label2 =
free_text2 =
location = Rochester, New York
information =
website = http://www.rcsdk12.org/schools/secondary/sota.htm

School of the Arts (SOTA) is a progressive alternative public middle school and high school in Rochester, NY. Administered by the Rochester City School District, SOTA is located on the corner of Prince Street and University Avenue, within walking distance of the Memorial Art Gallery, Eastman Theatre, Writers & Books, Visual Studies Workshop, and other cultural organizations.

School of the Arts has many different after-school arts programs, called Tenth Period. Tenth Period is a class that is offers the following classes: Dance, Jazz Band, Theater Technology, Photography, Visual Arts, and Creative Writing. However, Tenth Period was canceled during the 2008-2009 school year, much to the dismay of the students. Students are also able to join various programs by audition. Some of those programs include: Dance Concert, Fall and Winter Productions, SOTA Singers, Black History Program, Step Team, and many more.

Academics

As in other schools, School Of The Arts has academic classes and arts classes. SOTA offers Honors and Advanced Placement(AP) classes, Special Education, Foreign Languages (Latin 1,2,and 3, Spanish 1,2,and 3, and French 1 and 2). Students carry a full academic course load as well as a fine arts sequence. SOTA offers a rich diversity of arts courses within seven major fine arts concentrations:
*Creative Writing
*Dance
*Drama
*Instrumental Music
*Theatre Technology
*Visual Arts
*Vocal Music

Film and Television

*SOTA was featured in the major motion picture Cherry Crush, where they used the lunch room, theatres, hallways and classroom as the "public school" setting for the main characters Jordan Wells played by Jonathan Tucker and Shay Bettencourt played by Nikki Reed.

Notable alumni

*Taye Diggs - actor
*Dashiell Eaves - actor
*Jimmie Highsmith, Jr. - Saxophonist
*Charlene L. Keys, Tweet - singer
*Qwanell Mosley, Making the Band winner [cite news |title="Making the Band" winner to get local recognition |url=http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770906024 |publisher="Democrat and Chronicle" |date=2007-09-06 |accessdate=2007-09-07 ]

External links

* [http://www.rcsdk12.org/schools/secondary/sota.htm School of the Arts (Rochester NY) homepage]
* [http://sotanews.org/index.html School of the Arts PTSA Newsletter]