Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences Programs
We seek a diversified student body and faculty. We offer a demanding college-preparatory curriculum integrating the arts and emphasizing a global perspective. We utilize the resources of our urban environment to extend our classrooms, to enhance our programs, and to engage our students in public service. Most of all, we seek to graduate motivated young men and women of talent and integrity who are prepared to contribute productively to a changing world.
Seattle Academy’s Culture of Performance is the hallmark of our program. It requires students to integrate skills across disciplines, to tackle challenging ideas, issues, or problems and to communicate or defend their findings before an audience of peers, faculty, and outside experts. Students are information creators, synthesizers, and evaluators rather than passive information consumers. The Culture of Performance extends beyond the stage to the classroom, to the playing field, and to the community. Students in every grade engage in signature programs that call on the Culture of Performance. For example:
- On the 3-day Seattle Challenge 8th grade students and faculty travel the city on foot doing community service projects to learn the experience of Seattle’s homeless.
- On the Odyssey Trip 9th grade students read Homer’s Odyssey, and on an outdoor excursion examine parallels between literature and the high school experience.
- For the Salon Project 10th graders embody historical thinkers from the Enlightenment and apply period beliefs to current issues.
- In the Civil Disobedience Project 11th graders research controversial issues related to constitutional rights. They present how they will negotiate with communities to produce positive outcomes in tense situations. Informed that their negotiations fail to produce change, students propose acts of civil disobedience incorporating tenets of Thoreau, Emerson, King, and others to re-engage positive negotiations.
- Most 12th graders complete Senior Projects doing substantive internships with area companies and organizations such as Boeing, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle Art Museum, and the University of Washington.
Recent Successes and Current Challenges
In 2011-2012, Seattle Academy granted $2.2 million in financial aid to 23% of our student body, with the average grant being 60% of tuition. Seattle Academy prepares every student for success in a future sure to contain unexpected challenges and opportunities. The skills needed for success are best acquired in a community that is socio-economically diverse and that brings multiple perspectives and life experiences into the classroom.
Looking to the future, Seattle Academy is preparing for a capital campaign to build a new Middle School and enhance Upper School facilities to meet the growing needs of our program.