Arts school draws applicants.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - Jazmin Bird is a straight-A student at Briggs Middle School who paints her nails black and takes her art - much of it ink drawings and cartoons with dark themes - very seriously.

Anna Degollado, also a Briggs student, has struggled since seventh grade, but believes her grades would improve if she could do more drama and be held to higher standards.

Kelly and Jesse Ericksen of Eugene are bright, quirky, home-schooled identical twins who never felt challenged in public school.

The four girls - all eighth-graders - are among 55 applicants to the Springfield Academy of Arts and Academics, set to open in the fall.

So far, the applicant pool is smaller than organizers had hoped, but it's big enough to sustain the school - and plenty diverse, startup coordinator Mike Fisher said.

"I don't think it's been any different from any other high school," Fisher said of the prospective makeup, which includes 33 girls and 22 boys, among them a half-dozen home-schooled teens and at least two Latinos, the district's largest minority group.

They land at all points on the academic spectrum: top students like Bird, average students like Degollado, students with learning disabilities and students who recently may have dropped out of other schools.

But academic status isn't something students get quizzed on during the lengthy application process, said Fisher, the head of Thurston High School's theater department. In fact, they're even allowed to black out their grades on the transcripts they bring along to final auditions.

"We're more interested in their future than we are in their past," Fisher said between a first round of applicant interviews held at the district office on Saturday.

The school, which hopes to enroll 120 students next year, promises to blend rigorous academics with professional-level media and theater arts and prepare all students for college, whether or not that's the path they eventually choose. It will open in a downtown storefront owned by the Springfield School District, but classes also may be held at the nearby Emerald Art Center and the yet-to-be-renovated Wildish Community Theater.

The Academy of Arts and Academics - A3, for short - initially will accept just ninth- and tenth-graders. It's received applicants from both Thurston and Springfield high schools, plus all middle schools in the Springfield district but Goshen and Springfield, Fisher said.

The most applicants by far - 16 to date - come from Briggs, which this year launched its own arts-focused program, called Visual and Dramatic Arts (VADA). Run as a school-within-a-school, VADA gives students more opportunity for intense focus on art and drama, and attempts to integrate the arts into all the core academic classes.

VADA's 100 students must keep a portfolio of their work - a requirement that gave them a jump-start on the A3 application process, which requires eight work samples as well as a letter of intent, letter of recommendation, resume, report card, two interviews and, finally, the audition.

At least half of the applicants from Briggs are VADA students, including Bird and Degollado. Both of the girls have completed their first interviews, and said they didn't find it too intimidating.

"They asked stuff like, are you good on following through on your work, how would you describe yourself, that kind of thing," Degollado said Friday as she and two classmates put the final touches on a short claymation iMovie featuring a muffin, a pig and a dog named Gir.

Bird said she was sold on A3 the first time she heard about it, and doubts she'd miss the opportunities - sports, social clubs, band, greater course selection - that a large high school offers.

"I feel it's more of a professional setting, and that (A3) teachers are going to be preparing me for my future," said Bird, whose father is a graphic artist. Her one disappointment with VADA, she said, is that teachers initially weren't well-versed in some of the software programs needed for graphics and video projects.

She expects A3's staff will be better prepared, she said.

The Ericksen twins, too, have high expectations for A3. The girls, who attended Kelly Middle School until midway through their seventh-grade year, said they were bored in many classes, especially art.

"It was just poster board after poster board - really quite boring," Jesse told the interview panel Saturday.

Kelly was so advanced in art, she enrolled in classes at North Eugene High School while still in grade school.

Now, the pair take a variety of classes at Homesource, a home-schooling resource center, and they study with their mother and stepfather. Both girls have flourished, but their mother, Kitty Wear, said the family is encouraged by what they've heard about A3.

"I think it will be a terrific fit," she said. "At first I was a little concerned about the academics," but she's willing to give the school a chance to live up to its promise of a challenging curriculum and high expectations for all students.

Fisher said A3 expects to continue accepting applications through summer. No students will be rejected based on their interviews or auditions, he said.

"There are no wrong answers," he said. "The only wrong answer is not doing it."

ACADEMY OF ARTS AND ACADEMICS

The next in a series of informational meetings on A3 will be held Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the Springfield School District's Administration Center at 525 Mill St. For information or to obtain an application, contact Mike Fisher at 744-5140 or [e-mail].

CAPTION(S):

Briggs Middle School student Anna Degollado (center right) plans to enroll in Springfield's new Academy of Arts and Academics next fall.