Miami

World of Creativity Available for Students at DASH

What can you say about a school which doesn't have much of the classic high school offerings? Design and Architecture Senior High School has no sports teams. No cheerleaders. No marching band. Instead of pep rallies, they have fashion shows and film festivals. So here's what can be said: DASH is one of the most highly rated high schools in the nation.

"One of the things that I admire the most about the student body is the way they're so collegial with each other, they really do support each other, and they foster a very healthy competition to do better, to actually do their best work, and that's a beautiful thing to see," said Principal Ana Alvarez-Arimon, describing an environment in which creative brilliance is nurtured.

DASH is a small all-magnet school with less than 600 students, perfectly located in Miami's Design District. Students audition to be accepted, then they study fine arts all four years and do three years in one of five concentrations. They choose from architecture, fashion design, graphic design, industrial design and film making.

"The advantage here is they're taking drawing and fine arts and sculpture from the time they enter the school and these creative, artistic programs allow them to think differently. They apply these skills in their academics, it makes them stronger in their academics because they're using both sides of the brain," said Eric Hankin, the architecture teacher.

Hankin said his graduates are recruited by the best architecture programs at colleges across the nation. At DASH, they get training that allows them to hit the ground running at the next level.

The fashion design students are in a similar place, in demand when they finish at DASH. There are DASH alumni all over the fashion world. Some of them are studying right now in Paris and London and of course, at New York's Pratt School of Design and at the Fashion Institute of Technology. They're using skills they learned working on projects at DASH.

"From drawing it, making the pattern, constructing it, then putting it on a model, styling it. So it's a long involved process which I really think trains them to have patience, which is really lacking in young people," said Rosemary Pringle, who leads the fashion program at DASH.

DASH also has a full range of AP and dual enrollment classes, which allow its graduates to compete academically with the best high school students for entry into Ivy League colleges and prestigious schools like MIT and the Rhode Island School of Design.

It's not for everyone, but you'll find every type of kid at DASH, designing their own futures.

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