Dreyfoos School of the Arts

The Dreyfoos School of the Arts, formerly the Palm Beach County School of the Arts, is a magnet school (grades 9-12) made up of a liberal arts and performing arts curriculum. Entrance is by audition, and majors include Communications, Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual.

The school is located near downtown West Palm Beach, across the street from a major shopping center, Cityplace, and next door to the acclaimed Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Students are taken here from all over the county and travel by car, bus, or train.

The school itself is made up of eight buildings, several of which were part of the 100 year-old Palm Beach High School (aka The School on a Hill - one of the few hills in South Florida). The school population varies, and currently averages at around 1200 students.

Because all of the students are also artists, DSOA has a reputation for being very bohemian. It is a fact that students are much more open to new channels of thought, creativity, and innovation. Additionally, the school is known for its gay population; and while there is only a slightly larger number of homosexuals, many outsiders are biased into thinking that all those attending are "a little fruity."

There are no fights at this school. Instead, the holy egoism of genius pervades throughout. Senioritis exists to the extreme. Drug use is probably the only "issue," as far as problems go.

I happen to attend DSOA as a Music (piano/keyboard) major. It's been several years, and I imagine I'll graduate ...sometime.

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E2 users that attend DSOA:
Pollux
Ryouga

/msg me if you should be here

I attended DSOA before it became DSOA...back when it was PBCSOA. PBCSOA resided in a decrepit ex-middle school on North Shore Dr. in northern West Palm Beach. We had run-down, makeshift facilities, modular music practice rooms set up in portable buildings, and very little supervision. Because SOA was a magnet arts program, it tended to attract better behaved, dedicated students, so teachers wanted to work there. As a result we had some extraordinary teachers.

I graduated in 1996, which was, I believe, the third class to graduate and the last class to graduate before the school moved and changed its name. Back then the school was a middle school and a high school...grades 7-12. There were about 100 students in my graduating class.

The programs at SOA were wonderful. When I was there it was a very young school, with idealistic teachers and a progressive attitude. The theatre department did a production of the musical "Hair", and the theater department tried very hard to get the administration to let them do it naked. In the end, they wore skin-colored leotards. We had a dance teacher who had a son named "Thrasher".

I have seen the new campus, and while it is impressive, it lacks the soul that the old campus had. It has become slick and polished, and I think it has sacrificed some of the idealism and naive optimism it once possessed.

The old campus had a weird charm...we didn't have enough practice rooms, so musicians could be found rehearsing in the cafeteria, in the gym, in random grassy areas, sitting in trees... improv theater took place in the courtyard at lunch. Our principal used to refer to himself in the third person over the intercom, as if he thought we would not recognize his voice. Or maybe he was just insane.

There was a very strange, tiny room with a very low ceiling that could only be accessed by crawling under the stage in the gym/auditorium. The art rooms had paint on the walls, floor, ceiling... in my chemistry class we spray-painted the periodic table of elements on the parking lot. Each student was assigned their own element to paint.

I was Einsteinium, atomic number 99.

These all these things, combined with the creative talent and spirit of cooperation among the students, made my SOA experience truly unique. And while the new campus in its pristine facility downtown is nice... I prefer the ragtag charm of the old campus.