Alabama School of Fine Arts

We're excited to announce a new program for younger students interested in learning how to play violin or viola! ASFA First Note Strings is an introductory program for 2nd-6th graders. No experience is necessary. Our new ASFA strings faculty member Yuriko Yasuda was Alabama Symphony Orchestra’s principal second violinist and has been teaching violin and viola for 20 years. She will be teaching and leading the program! Learn more and register here:

https://www.asfa.k12.al.us/firstnote

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The first Vulcan Materials Gallery opening of the year is Thurs., Sept. 5 from 5 PM - 6:30 PM. Make sure you mark your calendar and make plans to stop by to see works from our visual arts faculty Randy Gachet, Anne Herbert, Darius Hill, and Celeste Pfau. The exhibition will be up until Oct. 4. Stop in anytime between 8:15 AM and 4:30 PM.

A sense of community and belonging helps make ASFA special! A huge thank you to our awesome Child Nutrition Program (with Coach Ike on the grill) and everyone else who helped make our first cookout last Friday fun for everyone!

Yearbook Dedication Day! We love and are grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Marble and all the Marbles! And we love and are so grateful for the yearbook staff!Thanks to the ASFA PTSO for the ice cream before the long weekend!

ASFA was thrilled to partner with the Sidewalk Film Festival this year as a venue and a sponsor. And we want to offer big congratulations to Creative Writing Dept. Chair TJ Beitelman's ASFA Digital Film class for their work with Kyle Sullivan and Katie Boyer of Screendoor Pictures for their contributions to the short documentary "Made By History: Commemorating the Children’s March" which was screened twice at Sidewalk!

The film captured a moving music and dance performance, conceptualized by ASFA Dance Department faculty member Germaul Barnes, to honor the 1963 Children’s Crusade. The project was part of the Arts Schools Network Conference, hosted by ASFA, and featured the talents of ASFA students and local Birmingham City high schools and Miles College.

We have a fresh new look for our DJD Theater just in time for Sidewalk Film Festival being on campus! Happy Sidewalk!

It's just the first week of school and our seniors are already preparing their college essays! Our full-time college and career counselor Becki Rutsky and 12th grade English teacher Rachel Evans work hand in hand with each student as they craft a meaningful essay. Read more about ASFA's incredible college counseling in the current ASFA Magazine on page 22!

https://publuu.com/flip-book/24940/1140500/page/1

Guess who came home to ASFA today? The one and only Ryan Jamaal Swain. Ryan is an ASFA alum and now a TV and Broadway star and activist. He’s been in Pose, The First Lady and Broadway’s Choir Boys and is a graduate of Howard University. He also is a writer and recording artist. ASFA students today got the chance to sit down with him today and hear his journey and ask questions about his experiences. Thank you, Ryan!

🤩Mrs. Strickland!!! AKA #1 Jazz Billboard Artist Kim Scott! 🤩
Another fabulous article from the Birmingham Times written by our own Javacia Harris Bowser!

The Life and Teaching Lessons of Kimberly Strickland, aka Kim Scott, Accomplished Classical Flutist By Javacia Harris Bowser | For The Birmingham Times By day, Kimberly Strickland serves as Director of Student Services at the Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) in Birmingham. After hours, she beco…

🤩MR. GEE!!! A fabulous Birmingham Times article by our own Javacia Harris Bowser. 😍

How ASFA’s Germaul Barnes Became the Renowned ‘Global Dance Maker’ By Javacia Harris Bowser | For The Birmingham Times Germaul Barnes describes himself as a “Global Dance Maker.” An award-winning dancer and choreographer, Barnes’ work has been presented on stages …

We have an amazing opportunity for you! We're looking for a residential life coordinator to work with our residential life director and resident assistants to create an amazing dorm experience for our high school students! Apply today at: www.asfaschool.org/jobs

Do you love math?! Come join the best school anywhere this fall and be our long-term sub for Algebra I, II, and Pre-Cal.
Learn more at www.asfaschool.org/jobs

Are you our next Child Nutrition Program Worker? Apply today to join the best school anywhere! (Or pass this along to someone who would be qualified.)
Full job description at: www.asfaschool.org/jobs

Our math team traveled to Las Vegas last week to compete at the Mu Alpha Theta National Convention and placed 6th overall! Which ties for the best placement ASFA has ever done (which was just last summer!) Congratulations to the team and to the faculty!

ASFA stars shining bright in New York City! Rising music senior Darrina Johnson performed last week at Carnegie Hall and ASFA dance alums Rachel Lockhart and Tyrone Reese are in the middle of their Broadway run for Illinoise. ASFA President Tim Mitchell got the chance to see both performances!

Creative Writing '09 alum Erika E. Wade won a Southeast Regional EMMY® Award! Wade, a writer and actor, is the voice of Alabama Public Television’s award-winning series Yellowhammer History Hunt. Her EMMY win highlights her work on the Africatown episode of the series. Wade was also the only nominee from Alabama in her category. Congrats!

Julia Downs, Alexander Kim, Eli Mrug, Ananya Mohanraj, Dmitriy Sazonov, Abhai Anand, and Cynthia Liu received scholarships at the universities they are attending for being National Merit Finalists! We're so proud of them! 👩‍🎓🤩

National Merit Scholarships: New round of Alabama winners to get college aid More winners will be announced this summer.

We LOVE having The FILES Arts Project in the building this week. Kat, Eryn, Cimara, and Alexandria are all ASFA alums. We're so proud of the work they are doing!

T-1 Day! Tomorrow The F.I.L.E.S. Arts Project 2024 Dance Workshop begins. ✨ We can’t wait to welcome our participants to the Alabama School of Fine Arts to immerse ourselves in all things dance! ✨
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Look who we spotted on The Late Show! Our very own dance alum Rachel Lockhart. 😍🤩She's the lead in this clip in the red crop top. She's currently on Broadway in Illinoise. She recently graduated from The Juilliard School. Another ASFA alum and Juilliard alum Tyrone Reese is an understudy for Illinoise!

“Jacksonville” - The Broadway Company of “ILLINOISE” (LIVE on The Late Show) The company of Broadway’s “ILLINOISE” performs a number from the Tony Award-nominated show, which is running through August 10 at the St. James Theatre. The ...

Our summer campers have been learning many new skills and also having fun!

ASFA's Science Olympiad Team made their first-ever trip to Nationals at Michigan State University. Our big win was 5th place (in the nation!) in Agricultural Science for Danielle George and Prisha Sharma. This was huge for ASFA, putting us up there with the best of the best.

Other notable finishes were:

10th place in Solar Power with Akhil Batchu and McNair Shah
21st place in Fermi Questions with Eli Mrug and McNair Shah
22nd place in Anatomy & Physiology with Conrad Feng and William Peng

Congrats to the whole team!

🎭✨ ASFA Dance on Broadway! Two (!!!) of our talented dance alums Rachel Lockhart and Tyrone Reese (both of whom went to Juilliard) are shining on the Broadway stage in the groundbreaking show , a dance r***e musical with music and lyrics by Sufjan Stevens and story by Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury.
Read more about their journey in this Dance Magazine article

Inside the Creation of Illinoise’s Onstage—and Offstage—Community Broadway’s "Illinoise" is an ecosystem, whose many members come together eight times a week to bring Justin Peck’s vision to vibrant life.

This is the first time in ASFA’s history that a student has won a medal at the United States Physics Olympiad ... and this year THREE students were awarded medals! No student from Alabama has won any medal in the national exam since 2012. Congratulations to recent grads Eli Mrug and Dimitry Sazonov and rising senior McNair Shah for their outstanding performance!
Eli and McNair each won silver medals, while Dimitry earned a bronze medal.

Congratulations to the Class of 2024!!

The 60 graduates were offered over $17.3 million in college scholarships. 90% of the seniors were offered merit scholarships. 265 scholarships were offered of which 94% of the scholarships are renewable. Seniors were admitted to 162 different colleges, universities, conservatories, art schools.

52% are attending college in state.
45% are going out of state.
1.6% are taking a gap year, then entering college.
3% are entering the workforce.

We’ll miss all of them! But they’ll always be part of the ASFA family.

The Creative Writing Department’s Cadence Release party was amazing! 🤩 All students received a copy of the department’s award-winning literary magazine and had a chance to talk to the writers, see some book arts and literary artifacts, and experience poems-on-demand and pop-up readings. 📖

A night to remember! ✨ Celebrating our incredible donors of $1000+ at the Annual Appreciation Dinner, hosted at the stunning Clubhouse on Highland. Generosity empowers the Alabama School of Fine Arts to thrive and inspire. Thank you donors for your continued support and all the laughter and stories! ❤️🙏

🎭🎉 Exciting news from the Alabama School of Fine Arts! Nalin Reed, a talented senior theatre arts student, has been chosen as one of just 20 U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts - the only Alabamian to receive this prestigious honor! The award, presented on behalf of the President, recognizes outstanding academic success, artistic excellence, and commitment to community service. Join us in congratulating Nalin and celebrating the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Presidential Scholars awards! Learn more at https://shorturl.at/ghtKQ

ASFA alums, students, faculty and staff all had a great time at Alumni Weekend! Thanks to the alums who served on career panels for speaking to students and for all alums for coming to see us!

We can't emojin a better Parent Teacher Student Organization! 😀🙂🤩 Thank you PTSO and parents for all you did for Teacher Appreciation Week. We're so grateful for you all.

Do you or someone you know teach social studies? Apply today to teach 12th grade AP Economics/AP Government and Economics/Government.
http://www.asfaschool.org/jobs