It is the beginning of a big change! Jenna announced it on Facebook last night:
“I’ve got good news. Amara got into Orange County School of the Arts! Starting next (school) year we will be leaving our Santiago Elementary and Santiago School PTA family. That is all.”
I’ve been wanting to share this story with all of you but wanted to wait until we knew how the story would turn out before I told it! Santiago is a wonderful school and we are sure going to miss it but next year Amara will be attending OCSA with a conservatory in “production and design”.
Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA), colloquially called “OH-sha”, which is retained from a mispronunciation of the previous acronym for the previous name of the school (respectively “Orange County High School of the Arts” and “OCHSA”), is a 7th — 12th grade public charter school located in downtown Santa Ana, Orange County, California, United States. The school caters to middle and high school students with talents in the performing, visual, literary arts, and culinary arts. The educational program prepares students for higher education institutions or employment in the professional arts industry. Both the academic and arts program have prompted recognition in the US News’ “Best High Schools” program. OCSA recently changed its school name from “Orange County High School of the Arts” (OCHSA) to “Orange County School of the Arts” to reflect the inclusion of middle school students. from Wiki
For those of us who remember the old movie and TV show “Fame”, it is something like that only they also offer culinary, creative writing, digital media and so much more.
Amara has been dreaming of going to OCSA for years now but couldn’t apply until she was ready to start 7th grade. Because OCSA is a charter school, you have to apply to get in. There is no guarantee you will make it and the process isn’t an easy one! Amara has been taking art classes on Saturdays since she was about three. When this school year began, she also started taking a class one night a week with her art teacher on “How to get into OCSA”. She could apply for two conservatories. Now I admit that word confused me but it is kind of like selecting a major. Amara applied for Visual Arts and for Production & Design. Applications had to be submitted online by January 15th and then you wait to see if you get an interview! Amara did not get an interview for VA but was scheduled to interview for P&D on February 6th.
The interview process wasn’t an easy one either. They were given a subject – The Three Little Pigs – and they had to bring a stage mockup, a costume they created and photos of themselves or someone they had made up as a pig! Once the interview was over, we started waiting again. Parents of students would be notified sometime around the first week in April.
April 1st rumors started flying that notifications were being sent. Jenna was freaking out every time an email hit her inbox! The waiting was killing all of us! Jenna got the notice on April 7th that Amara had been accepted! Amara is on Spring Break and Justin had taken the day off to take her to Disneyland! I’m pretty sure her and Justin’s screams of excitement could be heard all over the park! But she is not done at Santiago yet. There is still a lot to enjoy over the next few months — like The Father Daughter Dance!
It will be exciting to see what next year brings!
Congratulations to Amara and to her Mommy and Daddy, too!