If you enter the chemistry classroom of Michael Howe, a sign hangs to the left of the door asking, “Where did you go to high school?”

“It certainly is a common question that is asked when you meet someone and you find out they’re from St. Louis,” Howe stated. “I think it’s important because it tells you a little bit about their [people’s] background and helps you make a deeper connection with the person because you have an understanding of where they came from.”

The reputation of a school acts as a representation of what background a person comes from. Howe says that our school’s reputation is in the process of developing an identity, and how students want to think about how they will feel about the answers they give when someone asks students that question.

Howe also hopes that the perception of our school will be viewed as a high quality school where kids get a good education and are free to express themselves.

College counselor Erica Snelson says, “I hope that the answer to this question of “where did you go to high school” continues to shed light on the performing arts, and I think that schools across the country [colleges] are going to know about us. I think the product [students] we are giving to them who are prepared, especially students in performing arts, that the school will stand out on its own.”

Snelson goes on to explain how having the first Senior class this year will lay the foundation for GCAA’s reputation in the world.

When it comes to reputation education is a big part of it. Senior Tyler Smith said,

“I think we’re pretty underestimated by a lot of people to be fully honest because I was looking at some charts about a year ago and we were up there with Webster and Kirkwood. To me that’s a pretty big deal, because that put us above Brentwood [high school],”

Most students believe that GCAA will reflect good intentions for both art curriculum as well as academics, but not have a focus on one more than the other. Freshman Crista Hatchet explains how GCAA is also very focused on the arts as well as academics.

“It’s a good arts school if you want to go to a good college for certain types of arts, most people would see it on your resume and be like ‘We can accept this person, they graduated from this school’.”