Community High School of Arts & Academics is the high school in Roanoke where the arts are of the utmost importance, and students are creatively challenged in preparation for not only a liberal arts education, but also for lives as productive members of the community.
Community High was founded by a group of parents, many of them college professors, looking for a more innovative and responsive high school environment for their own children. Community High began as an extension of Community School, an institution with over 30 years of experience in student-centered alternative education, and has quickly grown into an independent and vital organization.
Located in downtown Roanoke, Community High is able to partner with a number of local organizations, with whom the students work closely. The Community High campus includes classrooms in the Dumas Center and the Roanoke Higher Education Center, as well as the main facility at 302 Second Street. Community High is small by design, with classes that work in an intimate, seminar-based format. The facility includes scholars with advanced degrees and working artists accomplished in their fields. The curriculum is diverse, including classes in both conventional core subjects and in areas ranging from Film Production to African Studies. Community High students are diverse as well, in ethnicity, faith, economic background, and vocation.
Community High seeks to define the Arts as Critical Thinking. While Community High encourages students to express themselves creatively, their understanding of art isn't limited to that. Community High encourages students to engage in a broader cultural conversation, to understand art as a means of inquiry. To do so means to think independently and critically. The cognitive skills developed through the Arts are as vital as those developed in the sciences and social sciences. All of them make for better students, more engaged citizens, and happier people. Community High is a home for those who are impatient with rote learning, standardization, and unimaginative thinking.
