Announcing the winners of the 2012 Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts

The award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts recognizes and celebrates College Board member schools that have implemented an arts program that promotes student learning and creativity in exemplary and innovative ways. This year, four $3,500 regional awards, one $5,000 national award, and three $1,000 honorable mentions were presented to College Board member schools to support the continuation and growth of their exemplary arts programs.

The College Board is proud to announce the winners of the 2012 Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts:

National Winner and Midwestern Regional Winner
Albert Lane Technical College Prep High School, Chicago, Ill.
Submitted by Amy Moore

Over the past ten years, Albert Lane Technical College Prep High School in Chicago has built a comprehensive 3-D art department, beginning with the purchase of a single kiln and expanding the program to over a dozen classes ranging from Sculpture to Wheel Throwing to AP 3-D Design, with over 300 students participating.  Students at Lane Tech are given an exciting range of opportunities through the 3-D art department.  Students take field trips to experience different types of ceramic firing techniques firsthand. They also work cross-disciplinarily, collaborating with other classes to contextualize their learning. Examples of these cross-disciplinary investigations include working with world language classes for a unit on Greek and Roman pottery and narratives, and working with the AP Chemistry class to study the art, history, science and technology of ceramic firing techniques.  Students also engage with the greater Chicago community, building sculptures for community events such as Chicago’s Snow Days celebration, and volunteering their time to teach local elementary school students about ceramics and sculpture.  

Western Regional Winner
Hood River Valley High School, Hood River, Ore.
Submitted by Amirra Malak

At Hood River Valley High School, art teacher Amirra Malak has created an AP 2-D art course that focuses on digital point-and-shoot photography. The course is a testament to the principles of equity and access promoted by the College Board; each student is provided with a digital camera and there is no pre-requisite for the course. Last year 40% of students enrolled in the AP 2-D course at Hood River Valley High School were at or below the poverty line, and 60% were minority students. For many of these students AP 2-D is their first AP experience, and for some it is their only AP experience. Yet, despite these statistics, in the three years that the course has been offered, 100% of students have achieved a 3 or higher on their portfolios. This is an exemplary and innovative use of the AP Studio Art course that clearly promotes access and equity, while arming students with the creative and critical thinking skills they will need to be career and college ready. 

Middle States Regional Winner:
Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts, Dundalk, Md.
Submitted by Liberty Grayek

Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts is a fine arts magnet school within a local comprehensive school. For the past fifteen years, the magnet programs at Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts have offered fine arts opportunities to students grades 9-12 across the Baltimore County Public School system. Teachers at Patapsco recognize the arts as a way to help students expand their personal and academic potential, and as a way to keep students engaged in learning. In addition to offering a wide array of arts courses, the arts are integrated across the curriculum as a tool to enrich the educational and cultural experience of all students in the school. From figure-drawing in anatomy classes to English assignments incorporating student-created animation and musical scores, students are consistently using the arts to support and expand their learning.

Southern Regional Winner:
Girls Preparatory School, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Submitted by Cathie Ault Kasch

At Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the arts are recognized as a core subject that helps students develop critical thinking skills and self-confidence.  Middle school students at Girls Prep take courses in dance, theater, visual art and music, and then pursue one or two of these art forms at advanced levels in high school.  In addition to taking courses in all four of the art disciplines, middle school students take part in exciting interdisciplinary projects that allow them to make meaningful connections in their learning. Through collaborations with History, Global studies and American studies courses, these projects promote student understanding of the world and their place in it, and contextualize their course work in both their art and non-art courses.

Southwestern Regional Winner:
Molina High School, Dallas, Texas
Submitted by William Adkins

The Feral Cat Society at Molina High School in Dallas, Texas, is an innovative program that provides students with an opportunity to engage in a variety of Dance, Music, Drama and Literary Arts projects. The Feral Cat Society recognizes the arts as a way to help students expand their personal and academic potential, and stay engaged in learning in arts and non-arts courses.  Cross curricular projects reinforce lessons in Math, Science, Language Arts and Social Studies by offering accessible, timely and relevant applications of concepts presented in core classes. 

Honorable Mentions:

Ridge High School, Basking Ridge, N.J., submitted by Wendell Jeffrey

The ACHIEVE Program, Brooklyn Park, Minn., submitted by Ryan Varley

Wiley H. Bates Middle School, Baltimore, Md., Submitted by Pat Klos