Arts at MPCS

Young minds are at their most creative as they explore and learn daily. Tactile art projects and music training occur as part of the PreK curriculum and in STEAM exploratory classes and enrichment.

Arts experiences in grades K-5 lay a basic foundation for differentiated and creative learning. From contextual drawing and painting to learning to sing or play an instrument, students engage in whole-learning to awaken creative and aesthetic thinking.

Lower school students explore both art and music exploratories each week in rotation. Fifth-grade students take required chorus, band, or orchestra classes as their music exploratory. Fourth- and fifth-graders also may audition for the spring lower school musical and seek out extra-curricular opportunities in various arts offerings.

Students have opportunities to delve into the arts through band, chorus, orchestra, theatre, dance, and visual arts — taking a course sequence that builds upon itself through the middle school years. As students progress, arts study moves from an exploratory focus to a more meaningful venture, where raw-passion and talent meet effort and sacrifice to refine and grow students' gifts.

Theater and concert performances abound in grades 6-8. Middle school students may audition for the musical theatre and drama productions, as well as pursue extra-curricular arts training.

MPCS offers training in audio engineering in the LeFevre SoundLab, as well as commercial music courses taught by a Grammy award-winning artist. Whether students desire to be in front of the microphone or behind the scenes, rigorous training is offered in each area.

While the high school offers a full-fledged curricular arts education program common to other schools, the Dozier School of the Arts (DSA) gives students the opportunity to engage in a curricular arts magnet program that adds rigor to the transcript for college applications.

The DSA is one of the most unique arts magnet programs of its kind in the nation for independent Christian schools. DSA is a high school arts education curricular program that trains and mentors student artists to become servant-leaders, using their God-given talents to be agents of change in the world of the arts. The Dozier School of the Arts is a school-within-a-school designed to provide intensive high school programs of study. Students are taught by faculty members who have 10 to 20 years experience, with advanced degrees ranging from the bachelor through doctoral levels.

DSA students leverage their arts experiences to enhance college admissions through performance auditions and submitting artistic portfolios. Students may take arts coursework at the core, honors, and AP levels towards earning DSA certificate recognition at graduation.

Explore about MPCS Arts in these WingTips blogs:

• Innovation in Education: Preparing Students for Careers in Music, Film, and Television

• Innovation in Education: The Show Must Go On

• Letter to My Alma Mater: Arts

• Mission-Driven in the Arts

• The Creative Thinker

• The Influence of Teens With a Pen

• Beyond the Script

• Integration of Art, Technology, and Music