Northwest School of the Arts in Charlotte North Carolina
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NWSA Brochure.pdf
Northwest School of the Arts is a CMS Magnet School that provides specialized arts instruction for students in grades vi-12. Well known for the arts, nosotros take also go a place of inspiring academic success.
Audition Required
Students must pass an audition in order to participate in the CMS School Options Lottery for a seat at NWSA. For audition information, including requirements and how to request an audience, click on the "Prospective Students" link to the left, or visit nwsaauditions.com.
Pre-professional Arts Education
Students may cull one of x majors: Band, Orchestra, Piano, Chorus, Trip the light fantastic toe, Theatre, Musical Theatre, Technical Theatre (HS only), Costume Design (HS only), or Visual Arts. Middle schoolhouse students major in one area, and high school students are permitted to have more one major.
Students are able to advance their skills by interacting with similar-minded peers who share their passion for the arts. Our arts teachers are artists themselves, and most of them are active within the arts customs. Their connections take given rise to many community partnerships, and enable NWSA to bring in local and national visiting artists for principal classes and performances.
Academic Excellence
NWSA students exercise not have to cede academics in order to pursue the arts. Our students have the same "cadre" subject field classes as students in other CMS schools (English, Math, Scientific discipline, and Social Studies). NWSA offers standard, honors, and AP classes (High School only). Currently at that place are 12 AP classes offered. Our students are regularly admitted to many of the finest universities and conservatories.
NWSA recognizes that creative students may learn differently, and respond well to hands-on learning. Starting in middle school, teachers strive to integrate the arts into their curriculum in order to reach every student. Arts teaching is not only makes schoolhouse interesting and fun, merely also is correlated with higher motivation, success in school, higher standardized exam scores, and an improved schoolhouse culture.
NWSA was recently ranked as the #3 High Schoolhouse in Charlotte in Usa News and World Report, and is consistently receives attention for academic excellence. We are proud of our loftier graduation rate, which is amongst CMS'south highest.
Pro-Caring Surroundings
Our school civilisation embraces diversity, and is accepting of all students. We regularly celebrate and embrace our diversity through Pro-Caring Days, designed to recognize multifariousness in the Arts, as well as amid our students, that leads to an environment of caring and acceptance that is felt throughout the schoolhouse.
The History of NWSA According to Dr. LaBorde
The seed for Northwest School of the Arts was planted in 1991 when Dr. John Murphy came to CMS as superintendent. He made the creation of magnet programs a major part of his efforts to rejuvenate the school organization. Knowing that an arts magnet was often a strong component of the best school systems with magnet programs, I wrote to Dr. Irish potato and told him of my background in the arts. (I was then principal of Myers Park High School, merely had been a college theatre professor and a high schoolhouse theatre teacher, equally well every bit belongings a theatre Ph.D.)
The original programme was to accept the vacant Ivey's Department Store on Tryon Street (directly across the street from the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center) and transform it into an arts high school. I was involved in the planning to create that space. Such a transformation required a bond consequence vote—specifically for an arts loftier school. With no real push for those bonds by the system or the arts community—all idea the result would pass hands—it was voted down by less than fourscore votes.
Irresolute gears Dr. Spud was still determined to have an arts high school, simply decided he would start with uncomplicated and middle school programs earlier tackling where to put a high school. He chose two schools that already had bond money approved for renovations—Chantilly for the elementary school and Northwest for the center school years.
Deborah Cooper (the system'due south visual art specialist), Dr. Harry Mamlin (the performing arts specialist), and I set up out to piece of work with architects to create the arts spaces needed for such a school. We also took the lead in staffing the arts teachers for the schoolhouse, with our key hires being Sharon Kazee who non simply served as caput of the choral program just also as Lead Instructor; Jeanne Barefoot in visual arts; Linda Booth in dance; and Jerry Lowe in band.
Northwest started as an arts magnet in the 1993-94 school year (as well housing an open school program and a twelvemonth-round programme—both of which eventually were discontinued every bit the arts program's popularity grew) with Rosalind Rowe-Anderson standing as the principal of the schoolhouse. (Beverly Eury, who became such a fixture at NWSA as lead instructor, academic facilitator, banana principal, and acting principal was part of the sixth-form squad in that first yr.) That year I was reassigned from Myers Park High School (where I had started the first public school International Baccalaureate program in the land) and asked to oversee both the unproblematic and middle schools, while likewise looking for a site for ninth grade the following yr.
(Northwest started with the unwieldy name—Northwest Visual and Performing Arts Magnet Schoolhouse. I petitioned the schoolhouse lath to modify the proper name officially to Northwest School of the Arts for no other reason than simplicity in marketing.)
After exhaustive research across the school system looking at both unoccupied and nether-utilized school facilities, my boss Dan Saltrick from central office and I came up with the revolutionary idea of just continuing ninth grade at the Northwest facility. It was expected that one time the high school grew large enough, it would separate from the middle school. (Equally we now know, that never came to pass.)
In the 1994-95 school twelvemonth we added the first loftier school grade. I was its principal and Sharon Kazee was my assistant main. Nosotros had 75 students.
In the 95-96 schoolhouse yr, grade 10 was added and then in 96-97 we added grades 11 and 12 to complete the high schoolhouse. The twelfth class that was added that year was the issue of students from around the schoolhouse arrangement petitioning the school board to add that grade a year early on so that they could graduate from an arts high school. Our showtime graduating grade was in 1997—with simply 25 students making up that historic grouping.
Eventually Ms. Rowe-Anderson left to have over Academy Park Elementary when it was transformed into our feeder arts school and I became master of all grades 6-12.
The rest is history.
Source: https://schools.cms.k12.nc.us/northwestHS/Pages/AboutOurSchool.aspx
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