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A Few Clouds Advocating for the arts
Faye Blue, an eighth-grader at Floral Park Memorial High School, has always been passionate about art. She’s an avid “Project Runway” fan, and loves to listen to pop music. She loves to dance, play piano, sketch and paint, and each summer, for the past five years, she has attended a two-week program at the Parsons School of Design in New York City. This summer, she will also be taking a sculpture class at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Approaching her final years of high school, Blue decided that she wanted to major in art in college, and has since been eager to get a step ahead of the game in the competitive world of art. She became interested in the Long Island High School for the Arts, a school in Syosset that offers students in grades 9 to 12 intensive training in several art fields — dance, drama, instrumental and vocal music, musical theatre, play-writing, film, theater technology and visual arts, which includes painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, digital design and costume design. Blue and her parents were devastated, however, when they found out LIHSA wasn’t a future possibility for Faye — at least for right now.
Blue’s school district, the Sewanhaka Central High School District, doesn’t currently allow students to participate in the program.
Nassau County schools have the ability, each year, to opt in or out of participation with the Boards of Cooperative Educational Services of Nassau County, which provides LIHSA, and serves the county’s 56 school districts. Because BOCES’ funding comes from local districts, local school boards vote each spring on which Nassau BOCES services they need, and the state of New York partially reimburses school districts for BOCES services and administrative costs.
Students attending LIHSA can attend the school for a half or full day, five days per week, and take art courses in addition to general education courses. Before attending, students are must go through a rigorous application process, which requires the submission of a portfolio and an audition.
