Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School Arts Conservatory Showcase This Week

For the third year, students from Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School (SSES) in Bradenton, Florida, will have their artwork displayed at The Saint Stephen's Episcopal School Visual Arts Conservatory showcase on Friday April 11, 2014. The showcase will be unveiled at the Anna Maria Art League Gallery, located at 5312 Holmes Blvd., Holmes Beach.

The Conservatory affords a special graduation distinction to students who have demonstrated exceptional interest and proficiency in the visual arts.  Seniors who have fulfilled the requirements for this distinction far exceed the graduation requirement by pursuing numerous courses in the visual arts focused on advanced concepts and skills.  The minimum to earn this distinction is four visual arts courses with at least one of those courses at the Honors or Advanced Placement level or five visual arts courses with at least one at the Advanced level. 

“The goal of the Visual Arts Conservatory is greater than merely students completing four or five courses at predetermined levels,” said Dr. Janet Pullen, head of school at Saint Stephen’s. “The conservatory distinction recognizes and encourages a commitment to the pursuit of visual arts study and also creates an interesting balance between student enthusiasm for the arts and the continuation of an ever-stronger curriculum,” she said.

Many of the student artists go on to great careers in the field. Eric Roberts, '14, will be attending The Ringling School of Art & Design with a Dreamworks Scholarship; Sarah Johnson, '13, is currently studying theater with a BFA (Bachelor's of Fine Arts) at UCF; and Victoria Stadlin, '12, currently attends the Rhode Island School of Design, one of the top arts schools in the country.

SSES students attending this year include Lakewood Ranch residents Megan Carr and Lauren Biach, Sarasota residents Eric Roberts and Nikki Cronen, East Manatee County resident Tiffany Yoon, and Manatee County residents Gera Versfeld, Jacqueline Perron, Zhuo Zhao, Kayla Hayes, Chelsea Burgess, and Christina Taylor.

Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School is a private, independent, co-educational, college preparatory school in Bradenton, FL. Saint Stephen’s delivers world-class education, excellent extracurricular experiences and exciting programs like AP course work, the iPad initiative, a band/strings program, a global education program, K-12 daily foreign language program and our Marine Science Initiative, to name a few.

Saint Stephen's sits on a gated, 35-acre campus, which includes a state of the art athletic center that hosts the school’s athletic events including cheerleading, football, track and field, lacrosse, baseball, softball and tennis. At every level, from PK3 through grade 12, students are nurtured in small classes and encouraged and supported in their academic pursuits. Students benefit from programs and educational models that have proven successful by Saint Stephen’s students who are excelling today in colleges and universities around the country. Saint Stephen's is proud of its rich academic offerings that go hand-in-hand with a strong college counseling program, a wide variety of competitive sports teams, a creative fine arts program, and many service learning opportunities. For more information about our school, please visit www.saintstephens.org.