San Francisco High School of the Arts Community Newsletter | Oct 27, 2023
FROM THE ADMINISTRATIO
Important Dates Nov 1 Dress Rehearsal for Recital #1 Nov 4 Performance at Stonestown Nov 5 Daylight Savings end
Remarks from our Head of School Last week was HSArts’ spirit week. What is the HSArts spirit? The answer lies in our mascot Phoenix, a symbol of rebirth, resilience, and renewal that embodies the spirit of HSArts. With fire in our hearts and the spirit of the phoenix, we are ready for what the future holds. Go Phoenix!
Dr. Sherry Zhang Head of School San Francisco High School of the Arts
Exciting News! Our Phoenix Mascot has Risen!
We are thrilled to show off our mascot design: the Phoenix, a mythical bird known in cultures worldwide for its representation of regeneration and immortality. It is designed by our new visual artist teacher Mario Su.
Mr. Mario talked about his concept of design: “I illustrate this phoenix design with the essence of rebirth, renewal, and grace. The phoenix's wings and tail feathers are often long and graceful, flowing like a vibrant, fiery trail. They are designed to represent fire and renewal. The color palette of this phoenix design incorporates rich, fiery colors like orange and gold. These colors create a visually stunning and emotional portrayal of the phoenix. This phoenix design is a compelling symbol of transformation and hope, making it a potent choice for our school’s representations.” Just as this majestic creature emerges from the ashes, HSArts has continually grown and adapted to new challenges. In Chinese culture, phoenix (鳳凰) appears only during time of peace and prosperity. The phoenix perfectly symbolizes our commitment to progress, transformation, peace and a brighter future!
ACADEMICS
Academic News Mr. Ray Chen, Computer Science Teacher
Our high school Integrated Science class has been working hard on the periodic table with Dr. Sherry. In the meantime, they’re having fun on the JavaScript conditional repetition with Mr. Ray. Students are using “for loop” and “while loop” to build their first sort app utilizing the “bubble sort” algorithm. The sort app will sort the user's input from least to greatest and/or alphabetical order. Everyone is looking forward to exploring more algorithms.
Our 7th/8th middle schoolers have been working on their calculator app for weeks. Their calculator not only can do 4 basic functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) but also power and root. Our next enhancement is going to add “pi” & “e” buttons along with “Ans”. Their implementations of power and root are deeply dependent on their mathematical understanding of exponents and radicals. All of those 7th/8th students are in my Algebra 1 or Algebra 2 classes. They all graded high on chapter 8, Exponents and Radicals. You can ask your kids to share their apps to your cell phone. Have fun playing and debugging for us.
ARTS
Arts News In Drawing Fundamentals, the high schoolers have been reviewing the basics of form and light before moving on to the more complex planes of the human head. We just had our first model visit of the year, with more planned in the coming months, and everyone is excited to spend more time sketching from life!omposition and ensembles: this year’s new additions to our Music Conservatory program. Ms. Bai, our theory and composition teacher, expands the digital side of music with both the Music Composition and Production classes. Students learn to use computer software to create their own music compositions, producing the tracks in Garageband using MIDI keyboards.
For ensembles, while not entirely new, this year we’re excited at the new combinations of pairings and groups our students can form with each other! This includes new students Luciano and Daniel with a violin and piano duet, violist Cristal partnering with flutist Olivia, and even Diego and Eric with four hands on one piano. Not only that, Mr. Ray is personally leading a beginner brass band with some of our 5th and 6th graders. Can’t wait to see it all come together in our December Music Concert and Winter Gala Benefit! Stay tuned for more information.
Fashion Designer workshop offered by Christiane Parker, a pattern maker and designer in San Francisco. Ms. Parker talked about style, fabrics, techniques, and fashion illustration with students. Students then had
some time to illustrate their own designs and came up with very interesting concepts.
ADMISSIONS
Admissions News Middle School Open House: Curriculum Preview and Q&A -- November 11, 2023 High School Open House: Curriculum Preview and Q&A -- December 2, 2023
While HSArts offers students a rigorous college-preparatory academic program, it is the person behind the grades who we care most about. Research has shown that arts education is a critical part of healthy development of young minds. See how HSArts can benefit your student within and beyond our classroom walls.
Join our dedicated staff and learn more about our well rounded and high-achieving HSArts curriculum for middle school and for high school (18 honors and 20 AP course selections), pre-professional training in the arts and our commitment to providing a nurturing and enriching educational experience. It is the perfect opportunity to meet school leadership, faculty and ask questions. Please RSVP via this link if you haven’t yet.
If you’re interested in attending this event, or have any questions regarding the admissions process, please contact our Admissions Department.
STUDENT LIFE
Spirit Week Recap Last week, we had a wonderful spirit week, with unusual outfits and exciting activities. Our student council and Ms. Anne put in a lot of hard work in preparation and everyone had lots of fun! Here's a preview to each day of Spirit
Week, with more pictures to be found on our Instagram:
Communication is essential and we strive to connect with our students, parents, and families throughout the school year. We will continue reaching out to you with this weekly newsletter. We also encourage you to visit our website and follow our social pages including Facebook and Instagram for announcements, information, and celebrations
10-27-2023
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