Vidal M. Trevino School of Communications and Fine Arts

The Vidal M. Treviño School of Communications and Fine Arts is a fine arts and communications high school in Laredo, Texas, founded in 1993 by Vidal M. Treviño. High school students from all three of the Laredo Independent School District high schools - Cigarroa High School, Martin High School and J. W. Nixon High School - meeting the acceptance requirements come to the school either in the morning or in the afternoon. They take one core academic class and one fine art or communication class. The academic classes are taught at the Pre-AP or AP level, meaning a more rigorous curriculum than regular level academic classes.

History

VMT opened in the fall of 1993, using public buildings such as the Laredo Civic Center and the Holding Institute. Today, the campus is housed in historic buildings throughout the downtown St. Peter's Historical District of Laredo. The main building (the old Warren G. Harding Jr. High School) is used for administration and core academic classes. The Music, Dance, Communications, Visual Art, and Theatre Art classes are in buildings and houses across the street or a few blocks down from the main building.

Principal

* Dr. Villarreal

chool of Visual Arts

The VMT Visual Arts program teaches the art students painting and sketching, of course, but they also must take as a requirement to graduate, Metal Arts and Sculpture classes. Here they learn how to make small statues and jewelry. Students make posters and artwork for school functions,participate in the annual "Tapestry" literary magazine, and participate in many local art shows.

chool of Communications

The VMT Communications program is a nationally acclaimed program thanks to their award-winning newspaper, "The Magnet Tribune" and "Tapestry", a literary magazine that is a collection of short stories, poems, and sketches, contributed by the students and faculty of VMT. Besides the newspaper and "Tapestry", students also have a choice of taking a radio/television production classes, in which students host their own radio show on VMT's radio program or produce their own television program. There is a photography class as well. Students in the communications program also help create the "Kaleidoscope", VMT's yearbook on a CD.

chool of Dance

The VMT Dance Department offers students various different dance classes, such as ballet folklorico, classical ballet & jazz, flamenco, and modern ballet & tap. These students have performed at the local, state, and national level competitions with great success.

chool of Theatre

The VMT Theatre Department offers acting classes to their students. The students are very involved with this group, putting on monthly performances for their fellow colleagues to see. Every summer, they participate with the local community college and university Theatre Arts students to perform full scale productions of well-known Broadway plays. Past productions include "The King and I", "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown", "Fame", "Anything Goes", "West Side Story", and "Beauty and the Beast."

chool of Music

The VMT Music Department is the largest fine arts program at VMT. The students, depending on what instrument they play in band or orchestra, can take low brass studies, high brass studies, woodwind studies, or orchestral strings. Classes in Piano, Guitar, and Steel Drums are also available. Students take lessons with their respective teachers and may join any of the various performing groups. Available performing groups are the VMT Soundtown (formerly known as the VMT Combo), Mariachi, the Ovation Brass, the Camerata Woodwinds, the Conjunto Extremo, the choir (known as the "Golden Chords"), or the VMT Strings Orchestra. The piano performance group is known as the "Hanon Society". There is also a class in experimental music that uses computers and synthesizers to compose music. Each group has performed at various local, state, and national competitions with success.

External links

* [http://vmt.elisd.org/home.aspx Official site]