KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The Osceola County School for the Arts is welcoming more than 1,100 students this semester to a renovated campus with new buildings and expanded space for arts and academics.
The school, which serves students in sixth through 12th grades, opened and kicked off the new school year with 100,000 square feet of renovated campus space. The project also includes a new 77,000-square-foot, three-story building.
“Before this, there was not all the color, not all the pizzazz that you see here,” Principal Dennis Neal said. “It was very much nondescript, if you will, but now reflects, I think, more of the spirit of the school. It looks like an art school. It feels like an art school.”
All students at OCSA must audition to enroll, and in the most recent school year, 700 students auditioned with only around 150 accepted. Neal said it is a competitive school, and he said the renovations add to the overall experience and appeal.
“So, the students that come here, we tell them that it’s a great privilege to be here, and it also takes a bit more responsibility,” Neal said. “The rewards we think are well worth it, for the experience they get here. If you have a passion for any of the arts, I want to say there’s no better place you could be.”
Neal said the school opened in the early 2000s after the campus was acquired from Tupperware Brand. For years, students took classes in portable classrooms.
With the renovations, the campus can now accommodate up to 1,250 students.
“Everyone’s been very excited. Of course, they’ve been anxiously awaiting to see the final product as well,”Neal said. “They’ve also had to endure some of the inconveniences and the growing pains of remodeling, but everyone has been just tremendously excited and supportive, and ready to get their students in this school to experience all the great potential that’s here now with a facility like this.”
The $87.7 million project was completed by Schenkel Shultz and construction by Pirtle.
Neal said the design of the renovated campus also reflects the school’s focus, including musical notes incorporated into courtyard planters.
“It’s kind of like ‘High School Musical,’ but we also have academic requirements, and the students here, they are artistically passionate about one of their art areas,” Neal said.
Shelli McWhorter, whose two grandchildren attend the school, said the campus gives students a way to pursue both academics and the arts.
“It’s a great school,” McWhorter said. “You have to keep your grades up and you get to be in the arts at the same time.”
McWhorter said the school is a strong option for students with artistic interests.
“I think it’s a great avenue for kids that have some talent because, I mean, everybody has some kind of talent, but not everybody is in the arts,” she said.