EXEMPLARY SCHOOL DISTINCTION 2011-13

Presented to member schools which meet Arts Schools Networks' Principles of Exemplary Practice in strategically evaluating purpose, operations, and educational programs.

Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary School

Charleston, SC *  Martha Jayne Ellicott, Principal

Idyllwild Arts Academy

Idyllwild, CA *  Douglas Ashcraft, D.M.A., Dean of the Arts

Los Angeles County High School of the Arts

Los Angeles, CA *  George Simpson, Principal

Orange Grove Middle Magnet School of the Arts

Tampa, FL *  Scott Rudes, Ph.D., Principal

Toledo School for the Arts

Toledo, OH *  Martin Porter, Director

WITH APPRECIATION

HOSPITALITY

Tim Gilhooly

Catering & Convention Services Manager, Disney's Contemporary Resort

INSPIRATION

Amy Sample and Dennis Wirzman

The Disney Event Group

ARTS SCHOOLS NETWORK AWARDS

ARTS INNOVATION AWARD

Bluffton Elementary School, Animate Me

Bluffton, SC *  Christine Brown, Principal

Designed to recognize commitment to taking innovative artistic risks, this award is presented to a member school that has "broken the mold" in using the arts as a vehicle for teaching academics and making a positive difference in the lives of students and/or the community.

Bluffton Elementary School's Animate Me is the implementation of an additional avenue for students to demonstrate their understanding of their grade-level curriculum content through the use of visual arts in the area of animation. It serves as the ultimate example of integrated technology across all content areas. The Animate Me program is supported by existing ToonBoom and FlipBoom computer animation software. Students use animation software to extend their learning by connecting classroom instruction, assignments, and concepts with artistic capabilities.

ARTS INTEGRATION AWARD

Ramsey School, Performing Arts Magnet

Minneapolis, MN *  Sharon Engle, Principal

This award is presented to a member school that has demonstrated exceptional leadership and accomplishment in bringing arts integration strategies into the curriculum.

Ramsey School, Performing Arts Magnet in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a place where "arts inspire achievement." Ramsey is home to a rich history and dedicated future of arts integration programs and practices. A team of arts integration specialists and ongoing professional development targeted toward arts-based learning provide all teachers the support they need to integrate the arts successfully. Financial commitment to arts staff, residencies, and other enrichment opportunities continue to be a priority of the Ramsey administrative team, and school leaders persist in lifting up the arts as key to student success. Arts integration is a part of the School Improvement Plan and Professional Learning Communities. In addition to routine practices by classroom teachers, Ramsey is currently undertaking eleven special arts integration programs, spanning several months and over thirty classrooms.

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP AWARD

Sheridan Arts Magnet - YMCA Beacons

Minneapolis, MN
*  Gabrielle Bliss, Fine Arts Coordinator

Intended to recognize arts schools and/or businesses that implement unique artistic and/or educational partnerships, this award is presented to a school or business that embraces the community by utilizing the arts and education as a vehicle for fostering artistic and educational understanding and community enhancement.

Sheridan Arts Magnet and YMCA Beacons have a unique and successful partnership because the two programs work collaboratively to develop intentional connections between the in-school arts magnet program and the out-of-school arts focused academic and arts enrichment opportunities. Through this partnership, one-third of the students are able to stay after school and participate in activities such as Hmong dance, gospel singing or the school musical. Minneapolis is well known for its vibrant arts community; YMCA Beacons brings these opportunities to Sheridan Arts Magnet students and makes them happen!

OUTSTANDING ARTS SCHOOL

North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts

North Fort Myers, FL *  Dr. Douglas Santini, Principal

This award is presented to an Arts Schools Network member school with an outstanding record of overall excellence in the categories of faculty and student achievement, community recognition and involvement, arts and academics integration, curriculum innovations, continuing growth and development, and state and national recognition.

North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts is a Title I K-8 public school within Florida's Lee County School District which provides all of its elementary and middle school students access to its arts program through individual classes as well as having the arts infused into the academic curriculum. The school encourages its students to commit to learning an art well and to participate in its many school and community performances. The school's arts education programs contribute to the overall culture of NFMAA by infusing every aspect of the student's day with some sort of artistic experience.

RESEARCH INITIATIVE - INDIVIDUAL

Craig S. Collins, Ed.D., Principal

Harrison School for the Arts, Lakeland, FL

The Disproportionality of Student Enrollment in Intensive Reading Courses and its Effect on Access to Public High School Arts Courses

This award recognizes an individual who has completed important research to further the goals of arts education, either in an Arts Schools Network member school or about issues pertinent to ASN schools.

Craig S. Collins, Ed.D. has served in education for twenty-nine years. He has served as a principal for sixteen years, having both elementary and secondary experience, and is in his eleventh year at Harrison School for the Arts. He obtained his bachelor's degree from the University of Florida (B.M.E.), where he also earned the Performer's Certificate in Saxophone, was a member of Florida Blue Key Honor Fraternity, and drum major for the UF Marching Band. He obtained both his master's degree and doctorate degree in Educational Leadership from the University of South Florida. In 1987, he served as the Junior High Representative for the Florida Bandmaster's Association. While serving as a junior high band and choral director, his groups at Kathleen Junior High, Lakeland Highlands Junior High, and Lake Gibson Jr. High earned straight superior ratings. Dr. Collins continues to adjudicate for FBA Solo and Ensemble Music Performance Assessment and presides over the selection of the Arts Achieve! Model School awards through the Florida Alliance for Arts Education. Memberships include the Association of School Based Administrators, Florida Association of School Administrators, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Arts Schools Network, Florida Network of Arts Administrators (Past President), and the Florida Bandmasters Association.

Research Abstract: "The Disproportionality of Student Enrollment in Intensive Reading Courses and its Effect on Access to Public High School Arts Courses".

The study examined equitable opportunities for public high school students to have access to the arts. The purpose of the study was to investigate any relationship between students' state-mandated placement in intensive reading courses as a result of poor performance on the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) and constricting access to courses in the arts. Mandated courses in intensive reading count as elective course offerings, thereby minimizing opportunities for student-selected elective course offerings in the arts.

The mixed methods research was comprised of quantitative data from the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) and qualitative data through survey research and interviews of arts-related professionals. The survey was administered to public high school arts teachers.

The survey findings suggest that arts teachers perceive mandated intensive reading courses as having negative effects on their programs. Interviews of arts-related professionals corroborate survey findings. Data from the Florida Department of Education revealed a gap in the FCAT achievement level of 10th-grade students when compared between the independent variables of race. Additional data from the FLDOE exposed disproportionality between races in students' enrollment in intensive reading courses. Lastly, in an attempt to suggest a relationship to intensive reading enrollments and limited access to arts courses, survey findings were significant in reporting negative effects to Latino students when compared to school size. Literature presents contrasting philosophies on high-stakes testing, one purporting increased academic achievement and the other reporting harm to students, especially students of color. However, void in the literature is the FCAT, subsequent placement in intensive reading courses for some students, and their effect on students' access to arts courses. This study summons educational leaders to examine the possibility of state-mandated intensive reading courses and their promulgation of inequalities for students desiring access to instruction in the arts.

OUTSTANDING ARTS SCHOOL ALUMNUS ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Trent Creswell, 2009

Graduate Center for Creative Arts, Chattanooga, TN

Created for the purpose of fostering artistic and academic achievement in talented young people, this honor is bestowed annually upon one former ASN member school student whose commitment to excellence is demonstrated through outstanding accomplishment in the areas of citizenship, arts, and academics.

 
Trent Creswell, a 2009 graduate of the Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is currently in his sophomore year at Sarah Lawrence College in New York studying literature, religion, and art history. He plans to attend Oxford University in the fall of 2013 to further study literature.

During his senior year in high school, Trent won the Creative Non-Fiction Award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts for his autobiographical piece Auto- Bike-Ography; or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Cody Pinson, and was subsequently honored as a Presidential Scholar of the Arts nominee. In 2010, he was the recipient of the Edward Albee Fellowship, from the Edward Albee Foundation. During this month long artist's residency in Montauk, he wrote the play A House Should Have the Look of Shelter, which was presented in Rattlestick Playwright's Theatre's "F&*#ing Good Plays Festival" the following year. His innovative work has been performed at the Baryshnikov Center, The Neofuturists, Mary Archie, and The Rattlestick Playwright's Theatre. While a student at the Center for Creative Arts, Trent wrote, directed and produced two original plays; The Package and The Death and Afterlife of Dr. Crash- Friendly. These provocative pieces were performed at both the Center for Creative Arts and The Chattanooga Theatre Centre; the proceeds from which benefitted local charities such as the Craniofacial Foundation of America.

Trent also penned a new translation of Russian Playwright Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya at Sarah Lawrence. He not only wrote and directed the work, he also played the role of Vanya. This spring, he is planning to direct and act in three short plays by Chekhov.

Trent was a company member at Ballet Tennessee, and was a member of The Choo Choo Kids, the traveling musical theatre troupe at the Center for Creative Arts. Also, while at CCA he was a member of The National Honor Society and the co-editor of the school's creative writing magazine. Trent acted in the film Ruthie, by Northwestern University professor Brian Cagle. Trent is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild of America.

TEACHER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Because the foundation of an excellent arts education lies in the talents and dedication of outstanding artist mentors and teachers, this annual award recognizes an Arts Schools Network teacher whose dedication, talent, and achievements are exemplary.

Barry Wilson

Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Jacksonville, FL

Barry Wilson is a teacher and practicing printmaker who received his BFA degree from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio and a MFA from Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida. Upon graduation he worked as artist-in-residence for the Duval County School System demonstrating printmaking in the classroom in schools throughout the county. Barry began his teaching career at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts where he has taught printmaking since 1992. He is currently Department Chair of the Visual Arts Department.

Wilson was instrumental in establishing a special collaborative community partnership with the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens. Since 2005 the museum has exhibited students' work as part of a special program called "New View". Other community partner organizations include The Clara White Mission, The Jacksonville Public Library, Jaxport, The Jacksonville Community Foundation, and The St. John's RiverKeeper. These partnerships involve art students working together to design a collaborative piece of artwork to be displayed in the community.

In 2009 Barry Wilson designed, implemented and involved students in the creation of a xeriscape garden at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. To date, over $17,000 has been raised for this project from students, staff, parents, and the community.

His students have been represented in the VSA National Awards Ceremony in Washington, DC. where they have had their artwork displayed at the Smithsonian. Barry has taken student volunteers for the last ten years to the local annual VSA Festival. The festival focuses on giving students in Duval County with disabilities an opportunity to have a meaningful and caring art experience. Students have the opportunity to give back to the community in volunteering to assist students with disabilities in making art projects.

He has had numerous solo exhibitions and shown his work both locally and internationally. His works are included in local, state and foreign museums and private collections. Teaching awards include the Gladys Prior Award for Career Teaching Excellence, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Teacher of the Year, and Memphis Wood Excellence in Teaching Award.

TEACHER OF THE YEAR AWARD

Eileen Montgomery

High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Houston, TX

Eileen Montgomery began teaching full-time at The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) in 1989 and says she can't believe it was that long ago! She is currently Chair of HSPVA's Visual Arts Department and loves the day-to-day challenge of positive growth. Prior teaching experiences include Aldine Senior High School, Bellaire High School, and Rice University's Master Teacher Program. Upon graduation from the University of St. Thomas, Montgomery became an art therapist in a psychiatric hospital and maintains that it was awesome training for life. She went on to pursue an active personal career as a sculptor and professional career as master ceramist and master lithographer for nationally recognized Little Egypt Enterprises. Her work is in numerous collections including Atlantic Richfield, Bank One and Intercontinental Hotels. Firmly committed to community involvement and mentorship, Ms. Montgomery served on several boards of directors of arts organizations in Houston and helped establish the Midtown Art Center. Additionally, she served as an HISD Artist-in-Residence, Regional Coordinator for Scholastic Arts and Writing, a consultant at HSPVA and she wrote curriculum for the Houston Independent School District. She was selected and honored as one of Houston's "Five Outstanding Emerging Artists." Her roundabout path included many crossover ventures between the arts community and the education community in Houston and eventually led her to a full-time commitment to teaching. Eileen earned her Masters degree from the University of Houston Clear Lake and joined the faculty at HSPVA. Since that time, she has taught and mentored many successful contributing artists and arts teachers and has cultivated a partnership with the University of Houston's Urban Talent Research Institute to help support research on creativity and the development of the creative personality. The National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts has recognized her many times as an "Influential Teacher in the Arts" and in 2005 she was honored as the "NFAA Coca-Cola Company Distinguished Teacher in the Arts." Eileen is an enthusiastic gardener with a fondness for native Texas plants. She loves travel and music, and along with her mathematics avocation has a vital curiosity about science. She also enjoys spoiling her German Shepherds, Surren and Zahlen.

DR. DENISE DAVIS-COTTON EMERGING LEADER AWARD

Terri Milsap, Principal

ChiArts, Chicago, IL

Designed to recognize excellence and achievement among rising arts schools administrators and to highlight the educational innovation practices or programs of those leaders.

Terri Milsap, principal of ChiArts, the Chicago High School for the Arts, was a high school teacher for 11 years and a principal of a Chicago charter school for two years. She has an MA in school leadership from Concordia University, a BA in English education from Governors State University and a BA in speech communications from Illinois State University. She is currently working toward her EdD in the nationally recognized Urban School Leadership program at the University of Illinois-Chicago. In addition to school leadership and teaching, Milsap has experience in school reform, charter renewal, curriculum development, and entrepreneurship. Milsap is a member of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development and serves on the Board of the Arts Schools Network.

THE JEFFREY LAWRENCE AWARD

Jacquelyn Henson Cornelius, Principal

Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Jacksonville, FL

Named in honor of the long-time head of the Professional Children's School in New York, this award is granted to the head of an Arts Schools Network school who exemplifies an uncompromising commitment to excellence in arts education and arts training.

JEFFREY LAWRENCE AWARD

Jackie Cornelius is the Executive Director of Fine Arts for the Duval County School District, which serves over 124,000 students in Jacksonville, FL. She is also the principal of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts (DA) and has served as a nationally recognized arts education advocate and presenter for decades. Her charge at DA is to provide intensive arts education to talented, passionate students, and implement quality arts professional development for teachers district wide. Over the years, Cornelius has spearheaded numerous financial campaigns to underwrite critically needed arts funding; one such campaign successfully netted over thirteen million dollars in state funding for DA, while another secured a half-million dollars in private funding for the purchase of arts instruments, equipment and guest artist programs. She recently implemented a pilot collaboration program among the seven district specialized arts schools; last August the district was awarded a federal arts professional development grant of one million dollars. Cornelius is an active community participant. She is currently a trustee for the Jacksonville Community Music School, a board member of the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, and a member of Jacksonville's Public Arts Commission Board of Directors. She is a Downtown Jacksonville Rotary member and Leadership Jacksonville Alumni, '92.

Cornelius has served on numerous arts and community boards: the Jacksonville Women's Network, the Mayor's Commission on the Status of Women, the Gateway Girl Scout Council, the Mayor's Insight Committee, the Jacksonville Symphony Education Committee, and Youth Leadership Jacksonville. She is a past president of Uptown Civitans, First Coast Business & Professional Women's Club, and the Arts Schools Network, and is a past director of the BPW Florida Education Foundation. Under Cornelius's leadership, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts has received many national and state awards. It has been named a Grammy Gold Signature School, a Florida Distinguished School, a Best Academic High School by Newsweek, a 2009 U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools in America Gold Medal School, and a 2008 Exemplary School by the Arts Schools Network. DA is a National Essentially Duke Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition winner and its theatre department has performed at the prestigious Edinburgh, Scotland Mini Fringe Arts Festival. Cornelius has been awarded the University of Florida's Distinguished Principal Award, the Florida Times Union News Eve Award, the Florida Alliance for Arts Education Leadership Award, the Florida Association of Administrators 2008 Arts Administrator of the Year Award, the Florida State Thespians 2009 Administrator of the Year Award for Outstanding Leadership, the Jacksonville Arts Assembly Outstanding Arts Educator Award; the Gateway Girl Scout Council Woman of Distinction Award, the Florida Association of Theatre Educators 2008 Outstanding Administrator of the Year, and the Duval Arts Teachers' Association Outstanding Principal of the Year Award.

ON YOUR WAY STUDENT WINNERS

FILMMAKING

Kimberly Greenwell 
Denver School of the Arts, CO
 

My name is Kimberly Greenwell and I am currently a senior at Denver School of the Arts, majoring in video cinematography. Film, as an artistic medium, is one of the few things in this world that makes sense to me. The ability to capture, manipulate, and transform a moment in time so that it can be relived infinitely, is a beautiful experience to live for. As I have introduced myself to the industry and begun working on films, I have opened my mind in order to collaborate with a wide variety of people, and my work reflects my appreciation for those diversities. Although every new project is exciting, I'm always looking forward to the next time I can look through a camera lens with new ideas and opportunities to improve my work. Whether I am working independently and motivating my own films or working on an extensive crew with hundreds of job titles, I understand my responsibility in film and no matter what the task I know it must be accomplished flawlessly. I don't believe there is any idea that is too ambitious, or any idea too small or subtle to be created into a brilliant work of art. We live in a world of over six billion people - what better way to tell each of our stories than through the art of film?

MUSICAL THEATER/ACTING

Leah Mattfield 
Interlochen Arts Academy, MI
 

Leah Mattfield, a junior Theatre Arts student at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska. Leah has demonstrated a lifelong passion for performing, and has enjoyed numerous opportunities to perform with local theater companies and at community events, as well as in vocal competitions.

In addition to the On Your Way Student Talent Competition, and prior to joining the Interlochen community, Leah was honored to win several high school competitions during her freshman year in Alaska. Among these were the Anchorage Concert Chorus' Vocal Scholarship Competition, 1st place; NATS Alaska Vocal Competition, 1st place (Musical Theater), 2nd place (Classical); and Sing For Scholarships Musical Theater Competition, 1st place. She participated as principle (Alto I) in the Allstate Choir Music Festival, and was later chosen to represent the musical theater division of the Alaska State Solo & Ensemble Festival in a "command performance" concert. That May, at the final round of the Classical Singer High School Competition held in New York City, she realized her childhood dream of a scholarship offer to attend Interlochen Arts Academy the following school year.

Leah has continued to step out while at Interlochen, most recently as a musical theatre soloist at their Fall Collage Concert. She studies voice, sings in the Interlochen Arts Academy Choir, and serves as a sophomore mentor. When at home, she is equally happy singing voluntarily, whether at senior residences, her brother's baseball league openings, the Mayor's Dinner, Anchorage Saturday Market Stage, or with her dad's worship team in her home church. What Leah loves most is the ability to impact and bless an audience of any size, age or background. Removing someone's mind from worries and woes or providing inspiration to others through performing is what truly motivates her to continue working diligently toward a career in musical theater.

VISUAL ARTS

Marie Sommers 

Marie is the oldest in a family of six girls and has been developing her artistic skills from a very young age with drawing, painting, sewing and even cooking. Both her parents work in the arts and have 

encouraged and challenged her to develop strong rendering skills and a creative mindset. At the age of fourteen, she was accepted into the Chicago High School for the Arts, one of only 150 students in the landmark school's first year of offerings. She is currently a junior and striving to become a notable artist in the school's first graduating class.

Marie's primary focus has been figure work in acrylics, colored pencil and oils. Her work explores organic surfaces in a distressed, evolved form- challenging traditional notions of beauty and perfection.

Marie's artwork has been displayed in small galleries in Chicago and showcased in a pictorial by fashion photographer Monica Skeisvoll. She has won The Alliance for Young Artists Pre College scholarship at Minneapolis College of Art & Design in 2011, and several Scholastic Artist awards in 2010 and 2011. She is planning to continue her studies in painting and drawing, developing work which will allow her to attend a visual arts college of her choice after high school.

CLASSICAL VOICE

Ashley Traughber 

High School for Performing and Visual Arts, TX

Ashley Traughber, a senior at High School for Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA), has been invited to join Houston Grand Opera's prestigious High School Voice Studio, a scholarship program for eight high school seniors. She most recently was selected as a Merit Award winner for YoungArts, a program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. She is one of 64 vocalists to receive this designation out of the 5000+ who auditioned. Ms. Traughber has performed the role of "Child" in the premiere of the opera Simply Grimm for Lone Star Lyric Theatre Festival, as well as the role of "Girl Soprano" in the song cycle Pieces of 9/11 -Memories from Houston, by composer Jake Heggie and 

writer Gene Scheer, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera. Ms. Traughber was a Texas All-State 

Choir Member in 2011 and 2012 and the American Festival for the Arts Young Artist Competition Vocal Division winner in 2010. Her awards include Most Improved HSPVA Performer, HSPVA Outstanding Musicianship, and First Place winner in the Greater Houston National Association of Teachers of Singing (GHNATS) competition in 2010. Ms. Traugher has attended the American Festival for the Arts for three years and has been at HSPVA since her freshman year.