Our School

Our School

Structure
Renaissance is a half-day school open to all AASD high school students housed at Appleton West High School; however, it is not a traditional “art school.”

In creating this school, it was imperative for the founding teachers to tap the expertise of local professional artists and bring that talent to the students. In that vein, Renaissance offers many classes (generally over 70 per semester) that focus on visual arts, music, dance, theater, literature, and media arts.

All of these classes are led by our combined staff of 30 teachers and community artists-in-residence. Students in RSA do not “major” in any one form of art, nor do they need to be superior in any single discipline.

What is required is a love of the arts, the spirit of community, a desire for deep learning, and a passion to grow them all. Renaissance offers an integrated academic curriculum that provides students with their English Language Arts and Social Studies requirements.

Students take their math, science and foreign language courses at one of Appleton’s three public high schools.

Courses
Renaissance offers an integrated academics curriculum that provides students with their English Language Arts and Social Studies requirements. Students take their math, science and foreign language courses at one of Appleton’s three public high schools.

Our schedule is divided into two blocks each afternoon, which allows students to take a combination of eight-week and 24-week classes in a manner that provides more course opportunities than traditional schedules.

Students oftentimes are taking seven or eight different courses each week at Renaissance. Our course offerings change each semester.

Academic Excellence
Students at Renaissance have both high artistic expectations as well as high academic expectations. Renaissance academic classes are designed for students interested in or expecting to attend a university after high school, thus our classes are taught in a college seminar-style settings, which meet one or two days per week.

Our class offerings are a testament to that expectation. Academic classes at Renaissance are either Honors or AP (Advanced Placement for college credit) classes and regular educations students are required to receive both their credits in English Language Arts and Social Studies through Renaissance.

Students use the academic staff at Renaissance as they would a college professor by focusing on the instruction, discussion, and presentations in class while completing the majority of the work outside of class.

Students must be able to budget their time appropriately, a skill absolutely necessary in order to be successful in college. 

If you would like further information or would like to set up a tour, call our office at (920) 852-5611. We look forward to helping you better understand our program.