2013 Governor's Awards for the Arts in Ohio
Arts Education
Stivers School for the Arts, Dayton
Nominated and Accepted By: Lizabeth Whipps, Director of Arts Magnet Programs, Stivers School for the Arts
Founded in 1908, Stivers School for the Arts, located in the historic neighborhood of St. Anne’s Hill, is the only public school in the Dayton City School District that has been designated as a grade 7-12 school. Students enter Stivers at the 7th grade level by audition and make a full six-year commitment. The magnet school has more than 875 students and is known for its rigorous arts and academic programs that consistently produce art works and performances that are nationally recognized and test scores that far exceed all other schools in the district.
Stivers, which has been called the “Crown Jewel” in the Dayton Public School System by the Dayton newspapers, is a prime example of how participation in the arts enhances academic performance. Last spring, U.S. News and World Report recognized Stivers with a silver medal as one of America’s best high schools.
Class of 2012 graduates secured 5.9 million dollars in college scholarships, and 13 graduates since 2000 have been named Bill Gates Scholars. Upon graduation, students are accepted to the finest universities and colleges in America, including Brown, Syracuse, NYU, Oberlin, Juilliard, Cornell and other excellent local and national schools.
The school supports a strong credo that the arts are a core discipline. Many of the community’s leading professional and performing artists serve as adjunct teachers, providing one-on-one instruction with the younger artists.
In a time when the conventional wisdom about Dayton centers on loss – loss of jobs, homes and students – Stivers is a catalyst: the spark that ignites an initial flame of inquiry and lights its students’ journeys. The motto of Stivers, “Giving Our Best Performance,” is more than a slogan. It is the school’s up-front proclamation to the public that the single-focus tenacity required to succeed in artistic endeavors is equally applied to academics and scholarship for soaring success.
Stivers School for the Arts' video tribute (6:40 minutes)
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