Daily Life & Academics
The school day is arranged to have four periods a day, in block periods over the week. Mondays and Wednesdays at SOTA students attend periods 1-4, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays students attend periods 5-8. There are 20 minute passing periods, as classes are held in over 10 different buildings and businesses. Three of these buildings are owned by Tacoma Public Schools and they are all within one square mile. Students use these 20 minutes to take buses and the Tacoma Link light rail to their next class. Some classes are housed in the University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma Art Museum and the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts. On Fridays, students arrive at 10:45 am for grade-specific activities; sophomores focus on math and science, juniors have writing classes, and seniors have advisory on their culminating projects. Showcases are also held on Fridays, where students perform and present their art in front of their peers.
Annual events include mentor day in the park, the Maquerade Ball, and Camp SOTA.
The Humanities classes are taught on a 3 year revolving curriculum, so sophomores, juniors and seniors are all placed in the same classes together. SOTA offers all math and science classes that a typical comprehensive high school would offer, except for Advanced Placement classes. Students are welcome to take higher level science classes or science classes for UW credit at the Tacoma Science and Math Institute. Classes are held in the 3 buildings owned and leased by the Tacoma Public Schools, as well as the UW Tacoma campus, Urban Grace Church, and other local partners/venues.
Like the arts, the academics are rigorous and arts are commonly integrated into curriculum. SOTA has one of the highest number of students pursue a post-secondary education in the area. SOTA has implemented Standards-Based Instruction and Assessment. Classes for college credit are offered.
SOTA has an extremely low average class size, thanks to adjunct artists and more class periods.
In addition to the regular staff, local artists are also hired by the school to teach their art forms. Included in this innovative "Artist in Residence" program are the Audio Recording and Jazz Combo classes. Many of these adjunct artists teach only part-time, though some teach full-time.
J-term is a period in January between 1st and 2nd semester. During this time, instead of going to regular classes, students can attend a month-long class or various internships arranged by the school. Some students plan to go on service trips instead of internships. Previous service trips have included China, Mexico, Cambodia, Laos, and India. Sophomores must take a class during J-term.
Internship sites have included talk radio stations, City of Tacoma, Hospitals, among around 100 other hosts in the Puget Sound Area.
Read more about this topic: Tacoma School Of The Arts
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