The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush (also known as Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Rush was a Founding Father of the United States. Rush lived in the state of Pennsylvania and was a physician, writer, educator, humanitarian and a Christian Universalist, as well as the founder of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania....

, Rush Arts, or simply Rush) is a public, magnet

Magnet school

In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...

 high school located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

. Rush Arts is known for placing its focus on both academia and the visual/performing arts, as well as encouraging creativity and the development of strong critical thinking skills.

Mission Statement

"Our special admissions school is based on the belief that the arts provide an unequaled opportunity to foster intellectual growth by connecting arts and literacy. Visual and media literacy skills will permeate all subjects at the high school. Reflective teaching and learning will be expected in every classroom with an emphasis on building a community of learners to be thinkers and creators, and who are preparing for college or professional careers. At the same time, the school will prepare students to be participating members of a democratic society by engaging them as stakeholders in their education. The spirit of intellectual curiosity will be encouraged in and through the arts."

Core Values

Rush Arts embraces a set of core values, abbreviated as "ICEPAC." All students are expected to both follow and help enforce this moral code; to serve as a reminder to everyone, it is depicted in both classrooms and hallways on posters.

• IMAGINATION: What if...?
• COMMUNICATION: How can I be sure I'm understood?
• EMPATHY: Who is affected?
• PERSPECTIVE: Through what lens do I examine this? Where is this coming from?
• ANALYSIS: How do I know what I know?
• COMMITMENT: What action do I need to take?

Academics

Each student at Rush Arts auditions for one specific "major" out of the five that the school offers. These are the visual arts (which have graphic, media, and fine arts as three subcategories), dance, theatre, instrumental music, and vocals. Students generally stick with one major throughout their high school career; while they have the option of switching majors, this requires a re-audition and acception into that field.

Athletics

The school competes as a representative of PIAA District XII, Public League. The teams' mascot is the knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

, while the team colors are purple and black. Rush Arts offers girls' volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, boys' varsity basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, girls' junior varsity basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, girls' soccer, co-ed track and field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

, junior varsity baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, and junior varsity softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

. The school also offers a number of intramural sports, including flag football

Flag football

Flag football is a version of Canadian football or American football that is popular worldwide. The basic rules of the game are similar to those of the mainstream game , but instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier to end...

, badminton

Badminton

Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...

, 3 v. 3 basketball, and indoor soccer

Indoor soccer

Indoor soccer or arena soccer, or six-a-side football in the United Kingdom, is a game derived from association football adapted for play in an indoor arena such as a turf-covered hockey arena or skating rink. The most important difference in play is that the indoor field is surrounded by a wall...

.

Extracurricular activities

Since its establishment, The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush has offered a number of extracurricular activities for students to participate in. Among these are...

• Art/clay club
• Build-On (community service)
• Cheerleading
  Cheerleading
  Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
  
   practice
• Dance practice
• Jazz
  Jazz
  Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
  
   band
• Journalism
  Journalism
  Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
  
   club
• Manga
  Manga
  Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
  
  /anime
  Anime
  is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
  
   club
• Mathletes club/tutoring
• Model United Nations
  Model United Nations
  Model United Nations is an academic simulation of the United Nations that aims to educate participants about current events, topics in international relations, diplomacy and the United Nations agenda....
  
   (UN)
• Scrabble
  Scrabble
  Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...
  
   club
• Step team
• Student council
  Student council
  Student council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. Present in most public and private K-12 school systems across the United States, Canada and Australia these bodies are alternatively entitled student council, student...
  
  

In addition, many teachers will stay after school on specified days to aid students academically.

External links

• The Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush official website